Digital
by IceWolf66
Summary: The PAW patrol were looking forward for a weekend of relaxation, but a mysterious wolf and a threat of a dangerous gang puts that to stop. Who is the wolf? What are his motives? And what of the gang in question? Will the PAW patrol get to relax for the weekend? (Spoiler alert: they wouldn't)
1. Prolouge: A wolf in a shack

**HEY GUYS! This is gonna be my first time ever posting a PAW Patrol fanfic.**

**Actually, this will be my second time posting anything at all on this site.**

**I'm not what you might call a good author. In fact, I 'm not even someone you might call a half-decent author. But I've got a glimmer of a story in my mind, and all it took was for me to have the guts to actually type it down and post it. Any criticism is welcome and I wanna know how I could improve my writing.**

**Thanks for reading this short ramble. Now on with the story.**

Inside a cold shack within the deepest parts of Jake's mountain, a young wolf cub groaned in frustration as he stared at the endless stream of data that was displayed on the screen in front of him.

"It's just doesn't make any sense!" he pounded at the desk with his paw, causing a small quake in the room.

The wolf looked again at the tablet on the broken desk, the electronic device very obviously out of place being the only item in the shack not withered and broken to some extent. It was…a gift, and that's all the wolf has ever felt comfortable telling anyone.

"Where are you hiding…" the cub murmured.

A few lines appeared in the terminal, which seemingly had typed itself. The wolf, however, did not seem concerned.

A website popped up on the screen, an impossible display seeing as there is no line anywhere on Jake's mountain, much less in an obscure shack deep within it. It was a Wikipedia page about a small town nearby.

"Adventure bay…" the wolf said, still deep in thought. "I wonder…"

A few lines typed themselves into the terminal once again. This time, a few news reports popped into view, revealing a team of rescue dogs and their various exploits. Though they seem like very capable canines, the wolf noticed that the rescue dogs in question are indeed pups, no more than a year old. He felt respect for them. After all, the wolf knew how hard it is to achieve anything somewhat significant at a young age, with all the 'adults' not recognizing talents of 'children' simply because they're too young.

Upon closer inspection, the wolf identified their respective species. At the front, most likely their leader was a German Shepherd, and at his side stood a white dog with black dots, a Dalmatian most likely. He could also identify a Cockapoo, an English Bulldog, a Chocolate Labrador, and one other he couldn't identify, a mixed breed maybe?

Regardless, they were his best shot. The wolf grinned in anticipation, though his canine nature made it look more like a snarl. It's been such a long time since he faced something unknown.

The young wolf couldn't wait.


	2. Chapter 1: The mysterious wolf

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own the wolf, Blight. **

**Chase**

"Come on Marshall! Get the ball!" I shouted in anticipation as I watched my best friend return the volleyball to the other side of the field. It was a bright Saturday morning, and the pups and I were playing volleyball at the bright, open, field just outside the lookout.

Rocky returned the ball, but I was ready.

I took a deep breath as I fixed my sharp gaze onto the oncoming ball. Time seemed to slow at that moment, and all I could see was the ball, flying towards me with great speeds. I exhaled, readied my paw…

…and completely missed the ball, only able to watch in dismay as the yellow sphere bounced into the trees surrounding us.

"Ha! That's 6-2, Chase!" Rocky yelped in glee. "Get ready to give up all of your treats for the next week!"

Skye, who was next to me, winced at the sheer thought, and I immediately felt guilty for not being able to save the ball. Why did I agree to that stupid bet?

I should've remembered that Rocky and Rubble are the kings of this game, but nooooo, I just had to let my pride get in the way.

Determined that I would win this, if not for me then for Skye and Marshall, I raised my head to face Rocky. "You're not gonna win Rocky, I was just warming up!"

"Brave words, cop," Rocky taunted. "But do you have the skill to back it up?"

"Oh, I'll show you skill, street sweeper," I taunted back as I got ready to serve the ball before realizing I didn't actually have it. "In just a moment." I turned towards the trees to retrieve the ball, eliciting a small chuckle from the others.

Before I could enter, though, the yellow volleyball rolled into the clearing, accompanied by a wolf cub. His fur was white with a grayish streak, and his ears were perked up, alert, like he's constantly listening in for an ambush, or maybe even preparing an ambush himself. He also carried a small pack with him, but what attracted my attention the most was his eyes. They were a deep, almost void-like shade of black. As a cop, I was always quite adept at reading someone's emotion through their eyes, but the wolf cub's eyes betrayed nothing but a cold, calculating look, like he's trying to see if I'm worth staining his paws or not. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second, and his cold stare was replaced by one of sarcastic amusement, like I just ate a rat that he snuck into my food bowl as a prank.

I wasn't sure which look I preferred.

He let out a toothy grin, revealing very sharp teeth that I would not like to have in me. "Howdy," he said with absolutely no southern accent at all. "I suppose this is adventure bay?"

I snapped out of my trance. "Umm, yeah. Who are you?"

He stared straight at me, which felt a bit unsettling. "There are many ways to interpret that question, cub. Though I assume that you're asking for my name."

A part wanted to argue that he himself also looked like a cub and that I'm a pup, not a wolf. The other, more rational part of me took one look at his teeth and claws and yelled at that part to shut up.

"For now, at least, you can call me Blight," he said.

"Hello, Blight," I lifted my paw up cautiously to offer a pawshake, "I'm..."

Before I could finish, the wolf cub known as Blight shook my paw. His grip was firm, like he's prepared to grapple me if I posed a threat, or at least crush my paw before I could react. "No need for formalities such as this Officer Chase, beta leader of the PAW Patrol."

I flinched in surprise, how did this wolf know my name?

Before I could say anything though, Blight let go of my paw and grinned. "Don't act so surprised, cub. Your team is famous and your name's all around the Internet. Doesn't take a genius to find your name in the sea of newspapers with it."

"Right," I raised an eyebrow and decided not to question it. "So, what exactly are you here for?"

"Getting straight to the point, aren't we?" he chuckled. "Well, the thing is..."

Suddenly, my dog tag beeped rapidly, and the voice of my owner sounded through the comms. "PAW Patrol, to the lookout!"

In unison, my friends and I shouted. "Ryder needs us!"

I looked at the wolf beside me, unsure if leaving him there would be considered rude, but surprisingly, he simply grinned.

"Go ahead, cub. My matter can wait. Lives are at stake, are they not?"

I wanted to hear more of what the mysterious wolf had to say, but he was right, lives are at stake. So I turned towards the lookout and sprinted for the elevator.

However, when I reached the elevator and turned towards the direction of where Blight was at, the wolf had simply vanished.


	3. Chapter 2: Fire! Fire!

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Marshall**

After my inevitable crash into the elevator (What? I'm aware of my own clumsiness), we suited up and formed a horizontal line in front of our leader, Ryder, as usual.

"Pups, we have an emergency," he said with a firm voice. He usually doesn't sound like that (since most of the distress calls we've got were from Mayor Goodway to save Chickaletta from a rooftop), so I assumed that this is gonna be more severe than the usual 'rooftop emergency' as we jokingly called them.

He activated the big screen to show us the usual pre-rescue animation briefing (how he prepares those on such short notice is still beyond me). This time, it showed a hospital on fire. It didn't take much to understand what's going on there.

"The hospital was set on fire, we need to put it out."

"Adventure Bay has a hospital?" Rubble asked incredulously.

"Of course it does," I replied. "The Pups And Humans Hospital is one of the only ones that provide medical services for dogs and humans alike. You didn't know that?"

Rubble simply shook his head.

"Marshall," Ryder called me out, my red firefighter logo flashing on-screen. "I need you to put out the fires and help treat the wounded."

"I'm fired up!"

"Chase," my friend's blue logo appeared. "I need you to set up your roadblocks to prevent any civilians from coming near so no one gets hurt."

"Chase in on the case!" the German Shepherd stood forward seriously.

"Skye," her pink propeller-like logo replaced Chase's. "I need you to stay in the air and dump down buckets of water to help put out the fires."

Skye backflipped excitedly. "Let's take to the skies!"

"Alright! PAW Patrol in on a roll!"

We got into our vehicles as we always did and rushed towards the hospital.

The entire area around the hospital was in pure chaos.

People ran around screaming as they tried desperately to escape the raging flames. Children cried as people tripped over one another to get out of the crowd.

Chase activated his megaphone to get all the people to calm down as he set up roadblocks to block incoming traffic. The thick crowd might make my job harder, but I needed to trust that Chase would do his part.

"Arf! Water Cannon!"

I did my best to put out the fires by spraying at them. Skye was up above, just finishing dumping a large bucket of water.

"My child!" I heard a woman scream from behind me. "Someone save my child!"

"Ryder," I said into my pup tag. "There might still be survivors in the building. Requesting permission to enter."

"Affirmative," he replied. "But stay safe, don't take any unnecessary risks."

"Right."

I braced myself before entering the flaming structure. The main lobby was mostly cleared out, so I quickly swept the rooms for potential survivors. It wasn't until the third floor before I heard the distinct sound of a baby's cry.

I followed the sound into a room, where I found a crying baby in a crib. However, there was also an unconscious man on the floor in the same room.

"Ryder," I said over the comms. "There's a baby and an unconscious dude here. What do I do?"

Before Ryder could respond, however, Skye shouted. "Marshall, someone's running into the hospital."

"What? How did they slip by?" Chase asked.

"I don't think it's a human. It looked like a dog, I think."

"Marshall, if so see them, tell that idiot to get out of the building ASAP."

"I agree with Chase," Ryder said, "The building's about to collapse at any minute now."

"But what about the man and the baby?" I asked.

Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me. "Take the baby, I'll get the man out of here."

I turned around to see Blight, the wolf from earlier, standing over the still unconscious man.

"How did you get up here so fast?" I demanded, the risk of his own life aside, Blight might become a liability in situations like this.

"Elevator emergency shut down overrides and months of running practice."

"What?"

"Not the point!" he snapped. "Just get the baby to the roof so your chopper can bring you both to safety!"

"What about-"

"Just go!"

Of course, I didn't feel comfortable to leave a man's life to this random wolf cub's paws, but it was a tense situation, and Blight's black eyes shone with certainty. I'm not sure why, but I snatched the baby and made a run for the roof, hoping that Blight can get the man out safely.

I got to the rooftop and gotten Skye to pull me up. I did my best to shield my eyes from the height we were in while trying to prevent the baby and myself from falling to the ground.

"My baby!" the woman from before cradled the baby in her arms. "Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Marshall!" Ryder rushed towards me. "I thought you said there was another man. And where was-"

Suddenly, a loud crash interrupted my owner, and I saw the silhouette of a wolf carrying a human leap into the air. Given the lack of wolves in the hospital, I immediately knew who it was.

Before I could even finish the list of ways I'm gonna murder Blight if he survived that, a truck just drove out of the parking lot for no apparent reason. It veered past a few civilians before screeching to a halt just below Blight, cushioning his fall (quite literally since I later found out that it was transporting mattresses).

The strangest part about all that was the fact that the truck didn't even have a driver.

Blight, still carrying the man, jumped down from the truck and let the medics take the man for treatment. For a moment, we just stared at each other silently, unsure of what the other would do.

But then, the wolf coughed out some smoke before grinning at me. "What's a wolf gotta do around here to get some fresh water?"

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Suffice to say, Chase was not happy about the situation.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" he glared at Blight, who was calmly drinking some water. "You could've tied Marshall's paws by being in an emergency area, and that stunt with leaping out of a window with an injured, unconscious man might've gotten him killed."

"Glad that the safety of my life is of your utmost concern, Officer Chase," Blight said dryly. "Besides, the man wasn't killed."

Chase sighed in exasperation, no doubt hoping that Blight didn't say something logical like that.

"What are you even doing here?" he asked.

"I saw a fire going on and decided to come help out," Blight shrugged. "Besides, I have a hunch."

"A hunch on what?"

"The reason I came here in the first place," a serious expression painted Blight's face. "I have a hunch on who started this fire."

**The plot thickens, does it not? Once again, I know that I'm not the best writer out there so any criticisms on my writing and tips to improve on it will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 3: The hacker and the cop

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight and maybe a few side characters I made with a random name generator.**

**Chase**

"Explain," I demanded. As a cop, I hated not knowing things, especially if it's information that's being withheld by a suspect.

Blight looked around cautiously before whispering to us. "I can't go into details right now, but to give you an idea, I'm hunting down a gang for some time now, and I think that they're here, in this very town."

"You see, I'm what you might call a bounty hunter," he gulped down the last of his drink. "I've got an.. ability, as you might call it, to help me out with that."

Great, a bounty hunter. Those kinds of people are hard to arrest since they only do illegal activities if their hirer asks them to, which means less evidence of their crime.

Blight, who must've noticed the look of contempt on my face, simply grinned. "Relax, Officer Chase. I don't really get too deep into illegal acts," he said. "And even if I did, you would have a hard time finding out."

"Is that a challenge?" I growled.

Marshall, who probably noticed the growing tension, attempted to change the subject. "So, Blight. You said that you have an ability, didn't you? Is it like, being able to remotely drive cars or something?"

Blight chuckled at that statement. "Sorta, I guess. You see, the thing is, I can-"

He was cut off by the hospital's doctor, who walked over to me with a list of the casualties in the accident that Ryder asked him to compile.

"I checked on all the nurses and patients as your leader had asked me to do, Chase," he said. "All the staff evacuated safely, but one of the patients is missing."

I noticed that Blight had instantly tensed up as he said that, but I didn't pay him any mind. "Who was it?"

"A human by the name of James Stone."

"Goddamnit!" Blight cursed out loud.

"Your 'target', I assume?" I asked dryly.

Blight glared at me before turning towards the doctor quickly. "Did you notice anything suspicious today? Any strange people or weird behavior from your patients?"

The doctor seemed surprised that he was being questioned by an unknown wolf, but he answered his question anyway. "No, I did not."

"Are you sure?" Blight pressed on. "Nothing at all? Nothing?"

The doctor shifted uncomfortably. I was about to tell Blight to calm down before the man that Blight saved, now awake, walked towards us, limping.

The nurse who was treating him called at him to lie down, but he simply waved her off.

He faced Blight and said with a rather gruff voice. "You. Are you the one who saved me?"

"By jumping off a window about 70 feet of the ground with you on my back?" Blight replied. "Yep, that's me."

The man waved it off like it was a minor, irrelevant detail. "I would've died if you didn't take that course of action, and I would gladly let you do it again."

"You say that you're finding suspicious people, right?" he continued. "You see, when the hotel was set on fire, I was running away before I heard the baby's cry. I ran into the room the child was in and discovered a man inside. He had tanned skin and his entire body was full of scars. At first, I didn't think much of it and told him to evacuate with the rest of the patients, but as soon as my back was turned he knocked me unconscious."

Blight's eyes lit up instantly.

"I could've died in that damn fire thanks to that asshole!" he shouted in anger before coughing violently and finally conceding to the nurse's commands to lay on a stretcher.

Before he lied down, Blight addressed him. "Hey, man. Do me a favor, will you?"

"Anything," he said with a ragged voice.

"Lay low for a couple of days," Blight said. "Don't go outside unless you absolutely need to. Heck, if you've got somewhere to stay, I recommend you to just move out of time for a while, at least until this all boils over."

The man nodded gravely before laying down on the stretcher, letting the nurse treat him.

I turned to the wolf. "What do you mean by 'this all'?"

Blight looked around nervously. "The emergency's over, right? Why don't we talk back in your base?" he leaned in and whispered. "You never know who's watching."

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I didn't feel comfortable letting a random wolf into the lookout, but Ryder seemed okay about it.

"He _did _save a guy's life, Chase," he said.

The first thing we forced him to do in the hideout was to take a bath, he already got mud on the floor and he stank like a skunk. Luckily he didn't struggle too much, we didn't need another Rocky on our hands. When he exited the bathroom, his fur was significantly cleaner, and his gray streaks are more highlighted in his now snow-white fur.

"Been a long time since I've had a decent bath," he grinned, "and it's nice to not have to worry about water snakes for a change."

I decided to not question that comment.

"So, Blight," I started. "What, exactly, is going on now?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" Blight said. "You see, I'm currently hunting down a group named Blood Rend. They deal with drugs and have a simple primary goal in making a shit ton of money."

"Your client?" I asked. Since he said that he's a bounty hunter, he's probably hired by someone.

Blight hesitated for a moment. "Irrelevant."

Hmm, suspicious,

"Besides," he continued. "Blood Rend is a drug dealer group, you should have no qualms in helping me weed them out. They've even killed people, and that hospital fire was just one example."

"The hospital fire wasn't an accident?" Skye asked.

The wolf shook his head. "There was only one casualty in the fire, and the name of the deceased man was James Stone."

He looked around for a moment, as if expecting at least one of us to shout out something like, "Oh! I know this dude, he stared in this very obscure TV show!"

"The man was my lead on the gang," Blight explained. "He was involved with their business for a while before quitting for his family or something. "

"Anyway, long story short, I tried to track him and ended up here in this town. I figured that since you're the town's rescue team and only real service group, you'd know something important," Blight said. "So I came to you guys, and the rest is history."

I stared at him suspiciously. "How do we know if you're telling the truth?"

"Because you can't prove that I'm lying and the threat of a drug-deal business in your town that had already killed someone is too dangerous to dismiss."

Darn it. I hoped that he didn't say something logical like that.

"Do you have any proof to back up your claims?" I asked.

"Coincidentally," Blight grinned as he pulled out a small chip hidden in his fur. "Yes, yes I do."

He took a tablet out from the small pack that he's been carrying around and inserted the chip before activating it.

"How do you use that with paws?" Rocky asked.

"My...ability." Blight responded. "You see, I can control electronic objects within range."

"Woah, like you did with the truck?" Marshall asked.

"Sorta," Blight replied. "I can't so much control it as I can interact with it, but I'm skilled with hacking, so I guess it's pretty much the same."

"So, you're a hacker?" Skye asked. "Like in the Matrix?"

Blight winced at the statement. "I have no idea why everyone assumes that the Matrix is an actually accurate hacker movie. No, more like that 90s movie named Hackers or that Mission Impossible movie, can't remember which one."

"Ghost Protocol?" Rocky suggested.

"That's the movie!" Blight grinned. "Being able to interact with electronics from afar makes me really good at my job." The screen of Blight's tablet winked as a screen full of data appeared. "It also makes not having hands only a minor hindrance." he grinned as a few lines typed themselves on the screen seemingly magically.

A screen flashed as a few news reports appeared on-screen. I remembered some of them from the news station that we watch from time to time.

"Dwug house waided, mystewious disappeawances, dead bodies found... Wubble, you might wanna tuwn your head fwom this." Zuma said.

"Not arguing," Rubble said as he cast his eyes aside. "Not arguing at all."

"All of these," Blight said. "And I mean _all _of these are the activities that Blood Rend had gotten involved in."

I stared at the dead bodies in the news reports, wondering if any of those could've been me, or worse, someone I love.

"Let's say I believe you, Blight," I finally said. "Tell us everything you know about this group. And if it turns out to be true..." I looked at Ryder, who simply nodded his head. "We'll help you bust these guys."

**I always loved chaotic-good hacker characters especially in games like Watch Dogs and I've always enjoyed observing the conflict between them and lawful-good characters like cops. As always, any reviews or criticisms to my writing will be greatly appreciated and thanks for reading chapter 3 of this story.**


	5. Chapter 4: Reveals

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters, I only own Blight.**

**Rocky**

Blight stared at Chase, whom he had referred to as our 'beta', for a minute.

"What?" Chase asked. "If there really is some dangerous gang in this town, I'm not gonna just trust a bounty hunter to deal with it."

"No, no," Blight chuckled. "It's not that. It's just that it's been a while since I last saw a cop with such responsibility."

Chase seemed a bit taken aback by that comment. "What do you mean? All cops are responsible, especially if it involves their town or city and its residents."

Blight smiled pitifully at the German Shepherd, like he's a poor naive child that had yet to experience the truth of our world.

"Well, I guess you just had a very different experience with cops than I did," he chuckled.

The worst part is, I could understand where Blight's coming from. I lived in the streets for a few months before Ryder came along, and the cops were _not_ friendly with me at the time.

"Anyways, what I can tell you is that Blood Rend is a very powerful and influential group. They've got money, manpower, and connections," Blight explained. "I tracked them for a while and infiltrated their main base once, but they've moved since then."

"To here," I guessed.

"Clever," Blight grinned at me. "I also figured out that James had quit the group, so I went to you guys to try to get some information about him so I can question him," Blight held up his paws. "And look what that got me."

"So, here's my question to you all," Blight faced all of us. "Where do you think they might be hiding?"

We considered the question for a while.

"Too bad Tracker isn't here," I commented, "He's probably the best suited for this."

"Yeah," Ryder agreed. "But Tracker's still deep in the jungle, so it's difficult to commune with him right now."

I considered all of Adventure Bay. The townsfolk are all nice and friendly, and everyone knows one another, so it'll be exceptionally difficult for someone to live in the town without causing at least a little gossip. I was about to think that maybe Blight's intel was wrong when a sudden burst of inspiration hit me, if the group's headquarters is around the area in Adventure Bay and no one had noticed it yet, that means it's in...

"Jake's mountain!" Marshall shouted the moment I thought of it. Most of the other pups, including me, turned towards Marshall and chuckled, knowing full well that he probably thought of that location because of a certain someone. Marshall blushed lightly and lowered his head, knowing full well that we all knew about his crush.

Blight looked around at us with his eyebrow raised, missing the inside joke. Eventually, though, he decided that he did not care. "So, seeing as the giant mountain in the north is the only one in miles, I assume that you are talking about that one."

"Yeah," Marshall nodded. "It's usually used for snowboarding..."

"But it's the middle of summer, which means that there will be no one there except for Jake and Everest," I finished.

"He named the mountain after himself?" Blight asked incredulously.

"Irrelevant," Chase smirked, glad that he could use Blight's words against him. "The point is that usually, Jake and Everest are the only ones in that mountain this time of the year, which means that the group that you're supposedly hunting will probably be hiding there."

Blight mulled over his words. "I did come to this town after making a stop there, and it did seem conceivable that someone can hideout there..."

The wolf raised his head to face Ryder. "Jake and Everest, are these 2 trusted allies?"

Ryder nodded. "Yeah, Everest is also part of the PAW Patrol."

"If Blood Rend really is hiding out at that location, they would probably know something..." Blight paused for a moment. "Can we travel there?"

"Right now?" Marshall asked nervously.

Blight rolled his eyes. "Would you rather wait for Blood Rend to strike again, cub? Maybe have a cup of tea while you're waiting?"

"Okay, okay." Marshall held his paws up in defense before muttering. "I like drinking milk more anyways."

"You do have a point, Blight," Ryder said. "Pups, get your gear ready, we're going to Jake's mountain."

"I'll wait outside," Blight said, "maybe at the foot of the mountain if you take too long."

Before I could get to the room where Ryder stores our pup packs, however, Chase motioned for us to gather around.

"So guys," Chase said. "What do you think of this Blight guy?"

"He's a bit of a jewk, I guess," Zuma said.

"Do you guys think he's not telling us something?" Rubble asked.

We all looked at him like, _duh_.

"I don't think he has a reason to lie to us, though," Marshall said. "I mean, he risked his life to save a dude he didn't even know. Can he really be that bad?"

"I don't know guys," Chase said. "What if he's leading us to a trap?"

"Marshall's the one who suggested for us to go to Jake's mountain, Chase," I said. "Do you think that _he _will lead us to a trap."

Marshall looked offended that I would even consider such a possibility.

"No! It's just- Aargh!" Chase groaned. "I'm just not sure, okay? We don't know anything about this wolf, and I'm not comfortable with working with him, you know?"

"We get it, Chase," Skye said softly. "But if what he said _is_ true..."

I shuddered as the pictures of the dead re-surfaced into my thoughts. "We can't risk that."

Chase looked at all of us before sighing in defeat. "Yeah, you guys are right," he conceded. "But when he betrays us... well, I told you so."

"You mean 'if', not 'when'," I corrected.

"Whatever," Chase turned around to equip his pup pack, and we all did the same.

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Since he didn't have a vehicle of his own, Blight hitched a ride on top of my recycling truck. Ryder originally wanted him to sit in the hind of Marshall's EMT vehicle, but he refused to enter it no matter what, the same goes for Chase's police truck, which is why he's now chilling on the top of my truck, enjoying the wind's breeze and the potential of falling over.

That wolf is _weird_.

The drive to Jake's mountain is usually long and uneventful, so I tried to make small talk.

"So, Blight," I started, "What made you want to be a bounty hunter?"

"So you assume that I _wanted _to be a bounty hunter?" Blight chuckled darkly. "That you should just follow your dreams and they'll come true? That who I am represents who I wanted to be?"

I instantly felt bad, "So you _didn't _want to be a bounty hunter, then?"

"Nope," I could practically hear the smug grin in his voice. "I love being a bounty hunter."

I considered braking without warning so that asshole will fall from my truck. I can't believe that I actually felt sorry for him

Blight, who must've noticed my annoyance, chuckled. "Come on, can't a wolf have some fun every now and then?"

"To answer your question, cub-"

"Stop calling us cubs!" I yelled in annoyance. "First off, you're just as young as we are. And second off, we're dogs, not wolves so it wouldn't even apply!"

Blight paused for a moment, stunned by my sudden outburst. "Dog and wolf, are we really that different?" he asked me. "Should we differ ourselves solely based on species and name?"

I stayed quiet, unsure as to how to respond to that.

"I originally became a bounty hunter for the thrill." Blight said after a moment of pause. "I survived well enough up until that point, so why not try something new and exciting, you know?"

"That sounds stupid," I commented. I survived the streets for a long time, I know how hard survival itself could be, so I never even considered trying to make it harder for myself.

"I know," Blight replied, "But after a while of experiencing the horrors of the world, the sheer knowledge that a lot of people out there are having it way worse than I do..."

This made me think, what is Blight's story?

"...most people with half a brain cell would probably just stop at that point," Blight shuddered at a memory I didn't know of, "But seeing all that, all I know is that, I couldn't just stand by anymore, you know?"

The thing is, I do know. After so many months of living on the streets, I saw a lot of bad things that most of the team probably couldn't even imagine. It was the reason I agreed to become a rescue pup, I wanted to make the world a little better.

"Hey Blight," I said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot"

"Don't wolves live in packs?" I asked, "Where's your pack? In fact, where's your family?"

There was a moment of hesitation from the wolf.

"They aren't here," he said finally.

"Wow, that explains a lot," I said dryly.

Blight chuckled, "Look, dude, my pack ain't here, which means it doesn't concern you."

There was a bit of tension in his voice, like he didn't feel comfortable with this topic. Before I could ask him more though, he stood and stretched (on the top of my truck, mind you). "Looks like we're here, Rocky."

I blinked as I snapped out of my highway hypnosis, looking up to reveal that we have indeed reached our destination.

Jake's mountain.

**One of the most important traits of a character (to me anyway) is their motivation. What makes them do what they do. Anyway, stay tuned for Everest (Yay, I get to write the pov of 2 of my favorite characters in a row!) and once again, any review and tips on helping me improve on my writing is appreciated, thanks!**


	6. Chapter 5: Enter the mansion

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters, I only own Blight.**

**Everest**

"Liver treats!" I exclaimed as I dug into my food bowl, "My favorite!"

Jake smiled as he pet me on my head, "I found some at the pet store and figured that you would like them."

I finished the snacks in the span of half a second (okay, maybe not that fast, but I was fast), my only regret being that I couldn't enjoy the snacks longer.

After spending my whole life in the barren, frozen land of the antarctic, you would think that I would take a long time to adjust to the more docile environment of civilization, and you'd be right. There are still a lot more things that I'm not used to yet, such as needing to buy food instead of hunting for it, but I'd choose staying in Jake's house over trying to survive the south pole any time.

I paced around the house, trying my best to cure my boredom. It was in the middle of July, so Jake's snowboarding resort was relatively empty. I looked through a window next to me, appreciating the beauty of the frozen mountain ranges, none of the dangerous cliffs in the south pole could even compare (though I'm pretty sure that's only because I was too busy trying to survive to appreciate their beauty).

Suddenly, I heard the familiar sirens of the trucks my friends in the PAW Patrol drove, and a closer look revealed that they were indeed driving towards us. I smiled at the prospect of seeing my friends again and ran towards the main entrance, not knowing at the time what they had in store for me.

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While Ryder chatted with Jake, Marshall filled me in with what's happening with the wolf, Blight, occasionally giving his own insights.

"Suspicious people, huh?" I pondered. "Well, I did see some guys..."

"Where?" Blight asked quickly.

"At the eastern side of the mountain," I replied. I've always roamed the mountains when Jake didn't need my help, so I have some understanding of what's going on. "I saw some people there once near one of the abandoned mansions, they were carrying a bunch of boxes that smelled funny."

"Think that you can bring us there?" he asked.

"Woah there, Blight. Slow down a second," Marshall said. "We probably shouldn't rope Everest into this."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "I'd love to go!"

Marshall turned to face me. "Y-you sure, Everest? It's really dangerous."

I giggled, pleased to see Marshall looking out for my safety. "You said so yourself, Marshall, these guys are dangerous to the people in adventure bay. I have to help."

"Listen to the husky, Marshall," Blight said. "This one has the smell of a survivor."

"Said husky doesn't appreciate being smelt, wolf," I retorted.

Blight grinned. "I like you already, when can we leave?"

"Now?" I asked excitedly. I know a new adventure when I see one, and I can't wait for it.

"Best start with it early," Chase said. "Who knows what kind of destruction these guys can bring."

"Agreed," Blight said. "Take us there."

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Jake and Ryder stayed behind in Jake's house to monitor the cameras Jake has around the part of the mountain he owns to check for the people. I was hesitant to leave Jake, but he assured me that he'll be fine.

We drove towards the eastern side of the mountain, with Blight sitting on the top of Rocky's truck for some reason. While we closed in, Blight motioned for us to stop our vehicles.

"Don't want them hearing us coming, do we?"

I led them towards the mansion where I saw the people, Chase sniffed the air before wrinkling his nose. "Heroin," he said. "And cocaine, these guys sure have a big operation."

"You've got a good nose, cop," Blight said. "I'll give you that."

Chase beamed with pride, having always taken pride in his sense of smell.

"There's a camera near the entrance," Rubble observed. "How do we get past it?"

Chase looked like he wanted to say something, but Blight beat him to it. "Done. We can go past now."

Chase looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"Simple, I froze the camera in a fixed view," Blight said. "Now, there could be a damned elephant passing through, and the guy in the control room will be none the wiser."

"How can we be sure that it'll work?" Marshall asked.

"General confidence towards me?" Blight suggested.

We all stared at him with a deadpan expression.

"Okay, okay fine. I'll just walk towards it. If the alarms don't scream bloody murder at my presence, you'll know that it worked."

"And if they do?" Chase asked.

"Run for your lives then," Blight chuckled.

Before any of us could stop him, Blight walked into the clearing, straight into the camera's line of sight.

I counted to five heartbeats, but no alarms rang.

Blight turned towards us with a 'See? I told you so' expression on his face. "Come on in ladies and gentlemen, we've got an illegal operation to bust."

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The inside of the mansion was relatively empty. Nobody was guarding the main entrance, likely because they thought that the camera outside will be enough. It was massive (as most mansions are) and looked worst for the wear due to the lack of maintenance. Multiple floors stretched across the stairs and rows of doors decorated the walls, each leading to a separate room. It was clear then that there's no way we could cover the entire area as a group.

"Whewe should we look fiwst, Blight?" Zuma asked.

"I say we split up," the wolf said. "There's too much room to cover, and moving as a group will probably attract unwanted attention."

"But going off alone will be pretty dangerous," Chase said. "We should split into groups of two or three."

Blight nodded in agreement. "I presume that Rubble and Zuma are the youngest of you all, am I right?"

We nodded in unison.

"Then I propose that you both go together in the company of Rocky," Blight said. Rocky seemed hesitant to accept the role of protecting the two, but Blight simply nodded at the half-breed reassuringly. "You're a smart one, I trust that you'll keep them both safe."

The wolf turned to me. "You should go with Marshall."

Marshall blinked. "Wait, Everest and I?"

"Yeah," Blight said. "You're a clumsy one, but I can tell that you can be sneaky if you wanted to. On the other hand, Everest seems like a strong one, she can handle any potential enemies you both meet."

"You seem to be coining a lot on your first impression of us," Chase said.

"I'm told that I'm good at judging people," Blight grinned. "And the rest of us, Skye, Chase and I will go together then. Any objections?"

No one said anything, which Blight took as a sign of affirmation. "Good. Everest, Marshall, you both search the upper floors. Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, the three of you sweep the ground floor. Chase, Skye and I will check the basement. We clear?"

Whispers of affirmation filled the air.

"Alright," Blight turned to the stairs leading to the basement. "Let's go then."

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Marshall and I checked the many rooms on the upper floors in silence, mostly because none of us have anything to say in particular.

Finally, Marshall broke the silence. "So, what do you think of Blight?"

"He's... interesting," I said hesitantly, not able to find the adjectives that can be used to describe the wolf. "I can tell that Chase doesn't trust him, though."

"You think?" Marshall chuckled. "Blight doesn't seem to hold anything against Chase, though. I think he just has a general dislike of police officers."

"I wonder why?" I said. "I mean, what made him hate cops so much?"

"Who knows?" Marshall replied. "All we do know about him is that he's some sort of bounty hunter-hacker or something."

I chuckled. "Could make a great movie title or something. The Bounty Hunter-Hacker, Revenge of the Police Officers."

We stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

At that moment, I remembered why I liked Marshall so much. Not only was he kind and caring, but he's also great fun to chat with and always has a way to make me laugh. I cherished the moments I spent with him, and the only regret I ever had was that I can't stay in the hideout with him all the time.

"We should really stop laughing so loudly," Marshall said after the laughter died off. "We might alert someone here."

I punched him in the arm. "Relax, Marshall. We've already checked all the rooms on this floor. Wherever those guys are at, they're not here."

He rubbed the spot of his arm where I punched. "Yeah, I guess."

For a moment, there was only silence between us. It didn't make me feel uneasy, however. It was a comfortable kind of silence, one that can only be shared between two friends that needs nothing more from each other than the company the other provides.

"Everest, I-"

Whatever Marshall wanted to say was cut short however by a screeching howl from our pup tags.

"That was Chase's voice!" Marshall shouted, his voice colored with worry. "We have to go to the basement!"

**Everest has always been one of my favorite characters because she has, in the words of Blight, "the smell of a survivor". Sorry for the late post (for the 2 people out there who actually care), I had some login issues with the site.**


	7. Chapter 6: Real talk

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Chase**

I never thought that I would second guess a choice that will let me spend more time with Skye.

I should've at least asked Blight to choose another floor for us to explore. The basement was dark and gloomy, with no light around except for the sole, dim flicker of the small flashlight Blight brought with him. The environment isn't any better either, being riddled with spider webs and insects. The floorboards groaned and creaked beneath us each step we took, the withered timber not supporting our weight well.

Skye looked unnerved by the basement as well, but Blight seemed unconcerned, likely have been forced to sleep in locations that make this place look like a cozy cottage if his homeless life had been similar to Rocky's.

I shook another paw free of a spider web. "This is unsanitary. Don't you think that the people who came here will at least clean up a bit?"

"Trust me," Blight said. "When you're on the run, sanitation will be a bit far down your priority list."

Blight opened a door and shone his flashlight into it, revealing yet another empty room. He closed the door and continued into the hallway.

"So, what are your stories?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Skye asked.

"You know, your stories," Blight cleared some webbing in the path. "What made you want to become a rescue dog?"

"What's it to you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Hey, no need to get all guarded dude," Blight said defensively. "Just trying to make small talk."

We walked in silence for a moment.

"I've always wanted to fly," Skye said suddenly. "When I first met Ryder, he was testing out this prototype winged pup pack. I wound up using it to save a bunny and one thing led to another."

I smiled at the fond memory. "Yeah, you were pretty awesome that day."

She chuckled, "Thanks!"

"How about you, police boy?" Blight asked. "Saved a kitty or something?"

"Ha ha," I laughed sarcastically. "No. I wanted to be a cop because my dad was one."

"Seriously?" Blight raised an eyebrow. "You know, I never really got the 'I want to be this because my parents were one' thing. Why follow in someone's footsteps when you can make your own?"

"Because I look up to him," I replied. "I wanted to make him proud."

"So, you're living your life to meet one's expectations?"

"No-I," I growled at him. "Why are you making it sound like such a bad thing?"

"Hey, I'm just saying things as I see it," Blight replied. "We've all got different angles when looking at something."

I walked quickly so that I can stand next to him. "Now you listen up, wolf-"

Before I could finish that sentence, though, the floor below us suddenly cracked and shattered, sending me and the wolf tumbling down into a small area beneath us.

Okay, I _may _have screamed like a little girl.

"Chase!" Skye shouted from above us. "Are you okay?"

I coughed out some dust. "Yeah, I guess," I checked my limbs for injuries. "I don't think I'm actually hurt. Blight, are you okay?"

"My leg hurts a little," Blight dusted himself off. "But I'm fine."

"We're okay, Skye," I shouted out.

"Oh, thank goodness," Skye let out a breath in relief. "I'll go get the others, don't you both worry."

I was sad to see Skye go, but I knew that there was no way the rest of the team could get to us through the winding hallways without guidance.

After Skye left, I noticed that Blight was staring at me. "What is it?" I asked.

"No, it' just that-" Blight chuckled. "I think that you accidentally activated your pup tag when we fell."

I looked at my now broken pup tag. "Yeah, so-" my face paled in sudden realization. "Oh, god."

Blight went into full-blown laughter. "Everyone in the comms probably heard you scream like a little girl."

I growled at the wolf before eventually joining into the laughter. My friends will never let me hear the end of this if we make it out alive.

After the laughter died down, I surveyed our surroundings. The strange thing is that we seem to have landed in a small box of space of some sort beneath the floorboards. Solid soil stood around us, and the perfect box shape of the area we're in suggested that this place might be dug out some time ago.

I told Blight about my observations, but he seemed unconcerned. "It might be a storage of some sort for the original owner of this mansion."

But I was unconvinced. My gut tells me that there might be something hidden down here, and I tend to trust it. I sniffed around until I caught a whiff of a peculiar smell.

"Hey, Blight," I called for the wolf's attention. "I smell something weird on this door. Smells like...steel or something."

Blight's ears perked up in excitement. "Seriously? Let me see."

He walked towards the wall that I pointed to and closed his eyes for a moment. Suddenly, the dirt crumbled down onto the floor, revealing an opened mechanical door leading to a long, dark hallway.

Blight grinned. "Good find, officer," he said before walking into the corridor.

"Wait!" I caught up to him. "Shouldn't we wait for the others first?

"Relax, we'll just scout out the area first," Blight assured me. "It's not like I'm gonna just rush into an entire room of enemies with nothing but my fangs and claws."

I wasn't comfortable with that, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing, I suppose.

"So, the girl, Skye," Blight broke the silence as we walked down the long hallway. "She really cares about you, huh?"

My cheeks reddened before I regained my composure. I refuse to let this wolf gain the upper hand of a conversation with me.

"Yeah, well," I coughed. "we're friends. Of course she cares about me."

We walked quietly for a moment.

"I was told once that," Blight broke the tense silence. "'friends' and 'allies' have different meanings. Think you can explain to me that?"

I raised an eyebrow at the strange question before answering. "Well, if you ask me, an ally is just someone you work with to achieve a common goal. At the end of the day, you're just using each other."

"And you call _me _a pessimist," Blight chuckled.

"Shut it," I growled. "A friend, on the other hand, is someone you can trust, someone you can play with, someone you can pour your heart to, someone who could listen to your problems when they can be doing literally anything else."

I smiled at the fond memories I have with my friends at the PAW Patrol. "Someone you will give your life to protect, and someone who you know will do the same. That is a friend."

I expected Blight to retort with something cynical, but the wolf simply walked on forward silently.

After a while, he replied. "That sounds...nice."

I wasn't sure how to reply to that. "Yeah, I guess. Do you have friends, Blight?"

A moment's hesitation. "I did."

Did, I noted, not do.

"What happened?" I asked concernedly.

"None of your business," Blight growled in response, a cold undertone in his normally sarcastic voice.

"Gee, sorry for being nice to you for once," I rolled my eyes.

Blight stopped walking and took a deep breath. I flinched, wondering if I've finally exhausted the wolf's patience.

But Blight simply turned back towards me, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about that, Chase. I'm just not comfortable talking about it."

I sighed in relief, a part of me felt guilty that I thought Blight might attack me, the other part reminded me that I thought that for a long time now. "It's okay. Sorry for bringing up an uncomfortable topic for you."

"I was the one who asked in the first place," Blight turned around and continued walking. A few moments later, he stopped again. "Do you smell this?"

I sniffed the air. "Yeah, the same kinds of drugs I smelt outside."

"Keep moving," he said, his voice tense with anticipation. "We're close."

**A bit of a calm before the storm chapter before the action starts. The way Blight's character arc is developing, I think I might just write a prequel for him, idk.  
**


	8. Chapter 7: Murderer

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.  
**

**Chase  
**

I crept forward with Blight next to me, slowly following the scent down the hallway. Eventually, we came across a metal door, much like the one we've encountered before.

I turned to Blight. "Think you can-?"

The door slid open silently, its gears grinding at a slower than usual speed.

"To think that you needed to question that is an insult to my abilities, Chase," Blight grinned before slowly sneaking through the door.

On the other side of the door, various things are going on. There were a group of people standing guard near boxes that smelled of drugs on one side of the room, and many others were transporting the boxes to a cargo of some sort on the other.

"They disguised their parking lot as one of the caves," Blight said. "Clever."

I noted that the room was quite hot for a snowy mountain, but I disregarded it as my nerves. "What do we do?"

Blight looked around the room before pointing at a door. "I don't see anyone that I recognize as a higher-up member, but that's not to say that they aren't here. Let's try sneaking into that room, see what we can find there."

We sneaked towards the room quietly, with me feeling fortunate that I took spy training before. Halfway through, Blight motioned for me to stop.

I ducked under cover before slowly peeking out to see someone keeping their gaze on the path we were going to take.

"Alright, we need to find another path," I whispered. "Maybe if we go that way..."

I was interrupted by the ring of the man's phone, he picked it up and turned to another direction. Blight motioned me to follow him behind the man.

"Oh, right. Hacker."

After a while of sneaking and a few prank calls, we finally made it to the room. Blight slowly creaked open the door and went in, with me following suit.

Inside was boxes of drugs of all kinds. Just from their scent alone, I can identify cocaine, heroin, methane and many others. I also recognize the distinct smell of gunpowder in some of the boxes.

"Illegal weapon trafficking as well?" I asked.

"Told you it's a big operation," Blight's expression was deadly serious, a sharp contrast to his usual look of amused sarcasm.

There was a desk on the other end of the room, which makes me think that this might be an office of some kind. Besides the desk was another door, this one already half-open. Intense heat radiated from the door, like an incinerator was installed on the other side.

Blight and I looked at each other for a moment before coming into a silent agreement. We crept slowly through the door to see what's on the other side.

A man was standing over a pit of boiling lava. He wore a formal business suit and had a hardened expression on his face. He had sharp, intense eyes and a muscular build. A scar cut through his otherwise handsome face, leaving a sinister appearance to the man. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I recognized this man.

"Officer Daniel?" I stared at the man with open shock. "What are you doing here?"

The man looked at us surprisedly, most likely not expecting visitors.

"You know this guy?" Blight asked.

"He's a high ranking officer in Foggy Bay," I said. "I know him from the police files. Why is he here?"

"Good question," Blight sneered. "Because _I_ recognize this person as a greedy murderer that has no remorse."

Officer Daniel recovered from his shock. "Chase from the PAW Patrol, I wasn't expecting you. Why are you traveling with this deceitful criminal?"

"Typical of you, Dan," Blight growled. "Still trying to lie your way out of trouble when caught red-handed."

"Okay, fine," Daniel rose his hands in surrender. "The truth is, Chase, I've been keeping this police officer persona as a cover for my real occupation."

"You have a broad definition of occupation," I gestured towards the boxes in the other room. "What is this lava, anyway?"

"Believe it or not, this mountain used to be an active volcano," he looked into the pit of lava. "It's been dormant for centuries now, but it makes a great incinerator for any potential evidence."

"Enough small talk," Blight growled. "Where the hell is your boss, Zane?"

"Ha! He's not here, Blight." Daniel smirked. "You wouldn't find him anywhere in this mountain. This is just an outpost for transporting our goods out of town. Our real base will take some more time to establish since you stormed our last one, but we'll be more prepared this time."

"Why are you telling us this?" I asked.

"Because I make it a habit to let dead men, or pups, in this case, know the cause of their death," Daniel smirked as he pulled out a controller and pushed a button.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"Don't use digital alarms against a hacker, Dan," Blight grinned.

"Goddamnit," Daniel held his head. "We were planning to install non-electrical ones, but we didn't think you'll find us so soon."

"Look, Officer Daniel," I said, hoping to reason with him. "Just call off the operation, the judge will have mercy on you."

I stepped forward, but a bullet suddenly hit the ground in front of me, I didn't even see him take the gun out.

"Stand still, both of you," Daniel growled. "Feel lucky that I soundproofed my office, but I can still use a pistol well."

I stood as still as a statue, partly because of his command, and partly because I almost got shot in the knee.

Daniel pointed his gun at Blight. "And you! Don't expect any of your tricks to work on me. In case you haven't realized, I left my phone on my desk."

Blight kept his expression neutral, but I could see a flicker of an amused grin that lingered on his face for only a fraction of a second.

"True, but there's one thing you won't leave behind for no reason."

Suddenly, Daniel's digital watch beeped. It only diverted Daniel's attention for a millisecond...

...but that's all Blight needed.

With uncanny speed and agility, Blight pounced onto Daniel, knocking his pistol away and pinning him onto the ground. He moved with such swiftness and ferocity that I knew that even Marshall, the most skilled amongst us in pup-fu, will have a hard time keeping up. In no time at all, Daniel was under the mercy of the wolf.

It actually made me wonder, how fast can he take _me_ down if it ever came to it?

"Where. Is. Zane?" Blight growled into the man's ear.

"A-adventure B-bay," Daniel stammered. "He s-said th-that he w-wants to e-establish a m-main base th-there."

"Where?!" Blight snapped.

"L-look," Daniel regained his composure. "Why don't you get off me? You know that you can't beat Zane without surprising him, why don't you come back to us? Why do we have to fight?"

"Seems that you're not planning on answering me then," Blight said in a cold, almost pitiful tone.

Before any of us could react, Blight bit deep into Daniel's throat. The man didn't even have enough time to scream before being choked to death by his own blood.

Blight released his grip from the man's body before calmly walking to the formerly alive man's office. "Come on, there might be some clues on their whereabouts in his office."

It took me a full second to register what he had done. "You killed him!"

"Last I checked, yeah," Blight replied, not even bothering to look back at me.

"You just straight-up murdered him!," I shouted. "How could you be so calm?!"

"I would refrain using the word 'murder' on a non-sentient being."

Blight turned around to face me. "Besides, what did you expect me to do? Call the cops on him? Do you honestly believe that the police will accept what we said over another cop's testimony? Do you expect me to just wait for a judge to put him on a trial that can last several weeks, if the trial even happens at all?"

"YES!" I yelled. "No one should be able to decide the fate of another individual without a proper trial! You should've knocked him unconscious and just let the authorities deal with him. Given enough time, evidence of his crime will be uncovered. You didn't have to straight-up kill him!"

Blight went silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Chase. But I can't do that."

He turned and walked into the lava room. "If we had to go through all that, Blood Rend will find out that I'm hunting for them, they'll take precautions. I only barely defeated them by catching them unaware last time, I can't let the element of surprise be taken from me."

"And just so you know," Blight walked towards Daniel's body, which was close to the edge of the lava pit. "I killed a deceitful murderer that will stop at nothing to sate his greed," There was nothing more than contempt in Blight's face as he pushed the body into the lava. Blight walked close to me and growled in my ear. "And I would do it again."

He turned his back on me and took a piece of paper from the desk before leaving, not even bothering to check if I followed.

**It's arguable whether what Blight did was right or not. He brought justice the only way he knew how, having never trusted the authorities.** **Hope you guys are liking the story so far.**


	9. Chapter 8: Distrust

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own** **Blight.**

**Rocky**

We stood over a large hole, the one that Skye said Chase and Blight fell into. It was rather large but empty, and no signs of the both were there except for their scent.

I stared at the steel door. "So...can we break through it now?"

Rubble was standing in front of it, making use of his pup pack to try to breach the door. "No luck, this thing is hard."

Skye seemed distraught. "It's all my fault. I could've just called you guys through my pup tag and waited here. Now Chase is gone!"

Everest was trying her best to comfort her while I calculated the many possibilities that may have occurred. Could Blight have kidnapped Chase? It seemed unlikely, seeing as Chase has incredible pup-fu skills and a taser gun in his pup pack, but Blight might've been able to neutralize him using his own taser by hacking it.

We do not know the full extent of the wolf's powers, and that scares me.

"Rubble, give it one more shot. I'll help you using my claw." I said before summoning my grabbing claw from my pup pack. It usually isn't used like this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Three, two, on-" Just as we're getting ready to give it one final shove, however, the door slid open, and Blight stood into the clearing.

I ran up to him. "Where the hell is Chase?!" I demanded.

Blight simply motioned behind him, revealing that Chase was simply tailing behind him. It was then when I noticed that both of them wore rather somber looks.

"Chase!" Skye yelped in joy before rushing forwards to give him a hug. "I'm so worried about you!" she said before pushing him back to take a good look at him. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Chase blushed, taken aback by Skye's sudden affection towards him.

"We wewe weally wowwied fow you, dude!" Zuma said.

"Yeah, you weren't in the hole Skye said you fell into, and your pup tag signal just disappeared," Marshall said worriedly. "Are you hurt?"

"Glad to see everyone's worried about me," Blight said dryly.

"Shut it," I said. "I swear to god if you did anything to Chase..."

"Relax, Rocky. Blight didn't do anything to me," Chase said. "I'll tell you guys what happened later."

"Tell them right now," Blight said. "Not that we have anything better to do. Sky's getting dark, and I'll assume that even rescue dogs need sleep. Since we can't do anything else productive today, you might as well just tell them what happened down there."

After he said that, Blight turned to the exit. "I gotta go get a drink."

The rest of us turned towards Chase. "All right," I said. "Spill."

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Chase told us what happened and how this is just an outpost of the gang, not the main base. After that, he told us about their confrontation with Daniel.

"...and Daniel pointed his gun at me, threatening to shoot me. But then..."

Chase stopped, unsure as to how to continue.

"And then what, Chase?" Marshall asked.

"He...fell," Chase said finally. "He fell into the lava after tripping over a rock."

"Poor man," Rubble said, horrified. "I can't believe he just fell in!"

"Eh, dude's got what he desewved," Zuma said.

The rest of us pups exchanged glances. Zuma and Rubble may have bought the story, but Chase was a terrible liar. Something else happened down there, something Chase was reluctant to share.

"Is that all?" I pushed. "Is that everything that happened?"

Chase nodded furiously, but there's a hint of guilt and hesitation in his eyes.

I wanted to push further, but Skye stood in front of him. "That's all, Rocky. We're all tired now, as Blight said. Let's just go back to Jake's cabin and spend the night there." Her eyes told me, 'yes, I know Chase is probably lying and no, we're not pushing him any further today'.

Blight chose that exact moment to return. At first, I wondered if he had threatened Chase to not tell any of us what happened down in the tunnel, but Blight simply walked towards Chase and murmured a small, grateful word of 'thanks' in his ear before slowly walking back outside onto my recycling truck. Throughout the process, Chase's eyes didn't even betray a hint of fear or even resentment, only a spark of disapproval and what almost seemed like...respect? Though more of a grudging kind. It only made me wonder more about what had happened there.

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The drive back to Jake's cabin was quiet.

Blight seemed more subdued than usual, and Chase didn't seem to be in the mood for chatting either. The tense atmosphere was only broken after we reached our destination, where Ryder and Jake were waiting for us.

"Thank goodness you pups are okay," Ryder said while checking all of us for injuries. "Are any of you hurt?"

"Blight and I got a few bruises," Chase reported. "But otherwise, we're fine."

"Did you find anything? Marshall didn't make it clear in the comms."

Blight gave Ryder a piece of paper. "Any idea where this could be?"

I stood taller to have a look and saw a map with an X on one of the abandoned warehouses in the suburbs.

"Not a lot of people go there usually," Ryder said. "You think that they might be there?"

"Definitely," Blight said. "I found this on Daniel's desk, so it's the best clue we have right now."

"...who's Daniel?"

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It took us a while, but we got Ryder up to speed. While we were doing that, Jake cooked up some dinner for us while Blight helped.

"Been a while since I used you humans' fancy cooking equipment," he joked. "Roasting meat over a fire with a stick gets old after a while."

I poked on my food carefully, checking to see if Blight poisoned it while said wolf consumed his food quickly.

"I used to eat raw meat all the time," he said. "But once you had a taste of cooked food, there's no going back."

Both Everest and I nodded in agreement, having personally attested this.

Dinner was rather uneventful after I finally decided that Blight hadn't poisoned our food. Ryder told us to go rest after that, but I couldn't sleep due to my anxiety about what tomorrow will bring, so I paced around the cabin.

Before long, however, I ran into Blight, who was sitting on a sofa in the living room, looking intently at his tablet.

"Can't sleep either?" I asked cautiously.

"Sleep..." Blight chuckled. "Haven't had one of those in a while."

I raised my eyebrow at the statement.

"Come on, sit," Blight gestured next to me. "Since you can't sleep, why don't we talk?"

"What made it obvious?" I sat next to him tentatively. "The fact that I'm talking to you here in the middle of the night?"

Blight grinned. Sitting next to him made me realize that I'm a good few inches shorter than him, which made sense. He is a wolf, after all.

"I'm bothering you ain't I?" Blight asked. "The fact that you don't quite understand my motives, that you don't know the full extent of my abilities, and that you don't know if you could trust me despite having worked together with me for a whole day now. That's what's bothering you, isn't it?"

"Read my mind, didn't you?"

"It's a good guess," Blight said. "You strike me as someone who likes knowing things."

"I'm sorry to say this," I sighed. "But I'm really not sure if I could trust you or not. Chase seemed really sure that you're plotting against us, but I don't have anything that can prove so."

I stared at the wolf. "Likewise, nor do I have anything that can prove otherwise."

Blight grinned. "Don't be sorry, a little paranoia is healthy for you."

"Though, I guess 'she' will say that trust is just as important, not that I could argue with her," Blight said while yawning.

"She?" I asked.

Blight's face darkened. "I didn't say anything."

I blinked at his sudden change of demeanor. "Umm, okay..."

"Anyways, I'm gonna move on to another target after these guys have been wiped out, so I'll be out of your faces before you know it," Blight resumed his usual grin. "And before that, I don't need you to trust me, I only need you to distrust the enemy more." Blight fiddled with his tablet a bit.

"What are you doing anyway?" I leaned over to take a peek at his tablet, but it seemed that he was playing a video game of some kind. "Seriously?"

"I have to do something to pass time don't I?" Blight chuckled.

"Why don't you-" I was interrupted by a yawn. "-just sleep..."

"Sleep, huh? As I said, been a long time since I had one of those."

He said something else, but my eyelids drooped down a little more and before long, I drifted into dreamless sleep.

**This was sort of an uneventful chapter to be honest, so I'll try to make the next few a bit more exciting.**

**Also, does anyone know how to do the line break thing that some other authors do? **


	10. Chapter 9: Merciful

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Chase**

I slept like crap last night.

The decision to hide Blight's actions plagued me constantly, I wasn't sure if I did the right thing. In a sense, you can even say that I'm guilty of defending a criminal. And I'm supposed to be a cop!

But the truth is, Daniel deserved it, if what Blight said about him being a murderer was true. Even though I didn't agree with Blight's actions (and still don't), I can see where he's coming from. Another, more selfish reason I concealed Blight's actions is that I need him. As much as I hate to admit it, Blight has more experience dealing with planned crimes than I do, and his help in dealing with Blood Rend will be necessary.

But still, even after awakening with the other pups the next day, I was unsure if I did the right thing.

After breakfast, we said goodbye to Jake and went to the abandoned warehouses in the map that Blight found. Surprisingly, Everest volunteered to come with us.

"The guys in the mountain will be gone after Jake calls the cops on them, right?" Everest said. "He'll be fine. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had an adventure."

Which is the reason she is currently driving her snowmobile alongside us despite Marshall's many protests. I, for one, am glad she's coming with us since it means we'll have another set of paws helping fight against Blood Rend, though I understand Marshall's reluctance.

Given the choice, I wouldn't want to put Skye's life at risk either.

When we've arrived, my nose picked up a familiar scent. "Drugs again," I growled. "And something else I can't recognize. Some sort of chemicals?"

Blight jumped off Rocky's truck and started scanning the outskirts of the building. "No cameras outside," he observed. "At least, none that I can sense."

"So, what do we do?" Marshall asked. "Think there might be someone at the front door?"

Blight walked towards the door and closed his eyes. "No phones. That's not to say that it's guaranteed that no one is in there."

I walked up towards the door beside Blight and tried to peek through one of the gaps in the wood, but the room was pitch black.

Blight slowly pushed open the door, revealing an empty, dark room on the other side.

I switched on the flashlight in my pup pack, trying to find signs of any humans.

"Phew, there's no one inside," said a relieved Rubble.

I sniffed around. "They were definitely here. This place reeks of drugs and chemicals."

Zuma walked towards another door on the other end. "I wonder what's over thewe?" he said as he put his paw on it.

Blight was the first to notice this. "No! Don't open the-"

Zuma pushed the door open, revealing three very surprised looking humans who were moving a few boxes. The smell was unrecognizable for me, but whatever's inside, there's a lot of them.

Blight growled. "You idiot."

The three were most likely only grunts lower down the food chain because when they saw us, they tried to book it.

One of them jumped out of a window while the other just zoomed past us through the front door while we were still stunned. Luckily, I snapped out of it fast enough to use my stun gun on the remaining grunt.

"Nice one, Chase." Blight grinned. He walked towards the last person and pinned him before the paralysis wore off.

The wolf growled into the grunt's ear. "Where the hell is your boss?"

"I-I don't know, man," the man trembled. "I'm j-just d-doing it for the m-money."

"Are the three of you the only ones here?" Blight asked, snapping his jaws intimidatingly.

"N-no!" the poor man tried to shield himself only to find that his arms are currently being pinned down. "T-there's this h-higher-up dude that t-tells us what to d-do! H-he's down at the b-basement."

"Basement you say?" Blight let out a chilling grin. "Then I think that you would like to show us how to reach it, would you?"

"Y-yeah..." the man calmed his breaths. "There's a s-secret door behind that c-cabinet," he explained, pointing at the cabinet on the other side of the room. "T-the password is 3147."

Rubble pushed the cabinet away, revealing a steel door that was had a small dialer beside it. I entered the code, and the door creaked open, now unlocked.

Blight grinned. "Good. Now give me one good reason to not kill you right now."

The man's eyes widened in shock. "No! Please! I'm just doing it because I really need the money. My wife's really sick, and I signed up for the job because it seemed like easy money at the time, you know? When I found out what these guys were really up to, they won't let me quit. Please! Don't kill me!"

Blight was silent for a moment. For a second, I thought that he was actually going to rip the man's throat off like he did with Daniel. But Blight let go of the man and picked his phone up, which the man had dropped during the commotion.

He stared at the phone for a while before putting it into his pack with a sigh. "Get out of my sight in this instance and never enter it ever again if you value your damn life."

The grunt, relieved that he isn't going to die, ran out of the building quickly.

"Wow, you scared him good, Blight," Rubble commented.

"Yeah," Zuma laughed. "I sweaw that guy wet his pants!"

I chuckled a bit more nervously, having seen the wolf deliver well on his threats first hand once already.

"Why didn't you just call the police on them?" Ryder asked.

"I told Chase already," Blight walked towards the door. "Getting the cops involved will let Blood Rend know I'm hunting them. Those 2 are probably gonna just abandon at this point."

Blight's tone took a chilly turn. "They recognize me from last time, and I trust that they're smart enough to not want to be mauled to death."

I gulped and followed Blight down the stairs, with Ryder and my teammates close behind me.

"So, do you have any idea who this 'higher-up dude' is?" I asked Blight.

"Unfortunately, yes," Blight growled. "I recognize this smell anywhere."

We walked to the end of the stairs, where a metal door that Blight opened easily stood. On the other side was an experimentation lab, where a crazed looking person was fiddling with some chemicals. Unlike Rocky's (yes, Rocky has a laboratory), the lab wasn't filled with electronic or mechanical projects, but instead had rows of chemical substances and tall blue tubes that held live creatures. Some of them had faces contorted by their own screams of agony, while others had fierce snarls. However, all of them had one thing in common.

It was clear that they were made to be weaponized.

All of them boasted strong physical attributes, though it was clear that some didn't hold them better than others. The person in the lab was obviously doing extremely dangerous experimentations on living beings.

"There you are," the person said with a slightly crazed voice. "I was waiting for my chemicals forever now..."

When he turned to face us however, his face was a mask of surprise.

"What's this?" he asked. "I never thought that my human-to-animal experimentation will be such a success!" He looked at Ryder. "Though, I'm not sure if I've seen _you _before..."

"Still crazy as ever, eh Robert?" Blight walked forward.

"You!" The man, now known as Robert shouted.

"Glad you remember me," Blight said with a chilling grin. "You had a terrible memory back then."

"I'd be hard-pressed to forget you, wolf!" Robert said. "Do you have any idea how many years of research you've destroyed?!"

"As a matter of fact, I do not know, nor do I care." Blight said coldly. "Your 'experimentations' bring pain and torture to those unlucky enough to end up in one of your tubes."

"But I make great advancements towards science!" Robert shouted. "You are a mere animal, so you wouldn't understand. But animal lives are nothing in the name of advancement. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs as they say."

"You're the reason so many innocent beings suffer!" Blight shouted.

"And you're the reason the world's scientific advancement is as slow as it is," Robert said.

"Enough!" I shouted. "I don't care about your 'scientific advancements', Robert. You're under arrest for involvement in criminal activities and unauthorized experimentations on living beings."

"Oh, I see now," Robert said. "You're hiding behind the police now aren't you, Blight?"

"Give it up, Robert. You're not taunting me that easily." Blight growled.

"Well, it's a shame officer. But you'll never take me alive." Robert smiled crookedly. He pulled a lever on a control board near him and laughed maniacally as many of the test tubes creaked open, and the ones inside jumped out.

The creatures that exited the tubes were utterly twisted and horrifying. They seemed to be dogs at one point, but not anymore. Their limbs were thick and muscular, but their blood veins there seemed ready to burst at every moment. Their fangs and teeth were sharp and deadly but were acid green instead of white. They were twisted amalgamations of our species, and I can't help but feel bad for them.

"Monsters, attack!" Robert cackled.

For a second, none of the creatures did anything.

The next second, however, was the most horrifying one in my life.

The creatures rushed straight towards the scientist and mauled him to death. Unlike the time Blight killed Daniel, when he just bit so deep into the man's throat that pain was most likely never felt during the time of death, the creatures took their sweet time, snapping at the scientist's many body parts(including the one that will feel _really_ painful) with their jaws and digging their claws deep into Robert's flesh. The man's screams of agony were deafening for a full minute before a blanket of silence replaced it, with noises of the creatures chewing on the dead man's body being the only sounds that remain.

Blight was the first to break the silence. "Mauled to death by his own creations. A fitting end for him."

"Sh-shouldn't we r-run now?" asked a clearly traumatized Rubble.

"No," Blight said with steely resolve.

For once, I'm in agreement with the wolf. "These creatures might escape, and who knows what they'll do to others if they reach the city."

The creatures turned towards us after finishing eating the remains of Robert, looking at us as if we're their next meal.

And if we can't take them down, we most certainly are.

**Poor Robert. Neither him nor Daniel could've even lasted a whole chapter.**

**Sorry for the late update, I was on a vacation :p.**


	11. Chapter 10: How to fight a mutant dog

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Chase**

"Alright," I faced Blight. "We're dealing with a dozen genetically mutated monsters that are made to kill. You dealt with this before, right? What do we do?"

Blight fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, half of the creatures suddenly stumbled over, dead.

"_Half _a dozen," Blight grinned. "Those six had mechanically engineered hearts. But we'll have to deal with the other six the old-fashioned way."

"Gweat," Zuma rolled his eyes. "Now we only have to deal with _half _a dozen monstews that awe made to kill stuff."

"Watch the sarcasm kid," Blight stared warily at the creatures that are now looking at us hesitantly, fearing that some of them may collapse dead suddenly as well. "I just made our job a whole lot easier."

"So, you've dealt with this before, right?" I asked. "Got any advice on fighting these things?"

"Don't get bit, don't get clawed and you won't get killed," Blight grinned.

"What a nugget of wisdom..." I muttered.

"Hey, it worked just fine for me," Blight took a fighting stance against the creatures, now advancing towards us cautiously. "All I'm saying is that the best advice I can give to untrained fighters is that if your opponent dies first, you win."

Having no more time to argue with the wolf about the proper way to give tips about combat, I readied myself for the assault of the mutated canines.

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As expected, it didn't go very well.

Blight's physique may not suggest that he's very strong, but his speed and agility more than made up for it. He served as a distraction for two of the dog-monsters, easily weaving through their attacks like a graceful dancer. That left four others for us to deal with.

One of them snapped menacingly at Zuma, who growled intimidatingly in response. Rubble was next to him, though his face showed visible fear. Rocky circled to the creature's flank, most likely trying to find an opening for an attack.

Marshall and Everest were doing just fine against one of the other dog-monsters. Despite the monster's many genetic mutations, Everest was holding her own against it, with Marshall nearby providing assistance when needed.

Ryder wielded a metal pipe he found lying on the ground like a baseball bat, attempting to fend off one of the creatures. Humans may have superior intellect and, well, hands, but most of them couldn't last long in a fight against a dog without proper weapons, especially not a mutated one.

I wanted to do nothing more than rushing to my owner's aid, but fate had different ideas.

The last creature, evidently the strongest one, wasted no time to run forwards with uncanny speed and straight for Skye, most likely thinking that she's the easiest target due to her size. Skye, who was caught unaware, let out a yelp as the creature clawed one of her forelegs before pinning her down.

Instincts kicked in, and before I knew it, I've tackled the creature down onto the floor. Before long, we're struggling against each other's weight for dominance.

The dog-monster, who had the strategic advantage of being made to kill, was obviously winning.

I had to think of a new strategy fast, on the floor, struggling against a genetically mutated creature that wanted to maul me to death. How do I keep getting into these situations?

My stun gun didn't have any charges anymore, so that's out of the question, and the wolf is to close for me to use my taser, I'll shock myself as well. The only useful thing I had left was my net.

Out of desperation, I activated my net launcher and aimed it straight at the dog-monster's face. The net flew straight out and the momentum pushed the creature away from me. When I got up, I saw that the creature was trying its best to get the net out of its face, providing a distraction. It didn't last for long, however, as the creature was already halfway done with ripping the thing to shreds.

I ran forward and activated my taser. Before the creature could react, I tased it and panted heavily as it fell down, paralyzed.

When I looked around for the others, I noticed that Blight was already done with the two of his pursuers, the creature's bodies having deep bite marks on both of their necks. He proceeded to tackle the creature that was fighting Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble onto the floor. Ryder was doing surprisingly fine, he had a few bruises and cuts, but the creature he was fighting was already down on the floor, dead. Marshall was treating Everest's wounds, the creature they were fighting laid on the floor, a deep wound in its stomach.

"Skye!" I ran towards her. "Are you okay?"

Skye stumbled onto her feet. "Y-yeah, I guess."

"Hold on," I pulled her onto my back, despite being my age, she was surprisingly light. "I'll take you to Marshall."

Skye seemed a bit flustered. "I-I can walk by myself, you know?"

"Not happening," I grunted. "Your leg is hurt. Putting more pressure onto it might make it worse."

When we made it to Marshall, he immediately shifted his attention to Skye. "That's a pretty serious wound," he said. "I'll need to clean it first to avoid an infection."

"Do you have water?" I asked worriedly.

"Do you have a standard-issue police pistol?"

"Umm, no...?" I scratched my back awkwardly. I'm licensed to have a gun, but I'm too afraid to carry one with me.

"Oh. Well, I do have it," Marshall barked at his pup pack. "The water, I mean, not the pistol."

As Marshall treated Skye's wound, Blight walked over to me, having finished helping Rocky with his fight. "Is yours dead?"

"No," I shook my head, I didn't finish it off since I was more concerned about Skye at the time. "Did it escape?"

"Nope, it's still there." True to his word, the creature responsible for Skye's wound was still lying on the ground, its twitching paws being the only sign that it's alive.

"That's weird," I said. "The stun usually doesn't last this long."

"Probably a side effect of its mutations," Blight walked on over to it. "Maybe they're more vulnerable to electricity?"

"What should we do with it?" I asked. "I mean, do you think you can reverse whatever Robert did to it?"

"Heck no," Blight shook his head. "What do I look like? A biologist? I'm just a wolf who's got hacker skills."

"As for what we should do to him..." Blight continued. "Kill him, of course."

I stared at him for a full second before replying. "Umm, no. This creature is the victim here. It's the one being researched on by Robert."

"And killing him is the final mercy I can give him," it was then when I noticed that Blight's voice was uncharacteristically sorrow. "Look at him, Chase. Do you honestly think that he prefers living like this?"

I looked into the creature's eyes and understood Blight's meaning. Great hatred and violence shone in them, but also grief and suffering. It was in pain, and that pain fueled its malice and hostility.

"I understand," I cast my eyes downwards. "Should I-"

"No, I'll do it," Blight stepped forward. "The fewer souls that need to bear the crime of killing a defenseless creature, the better."

When I looked at Blight's eyes, I realized that I had misjudged the wolf. He does not take pleasure in killing even his worse enemies, he just did what he deemed to be necessary at the time. In some ways, he was just like me, we both did what it takes to make the world a little better than it was.

He pinned the creature down, just in case. "I'll try to make this as painless as possible. Hope that you end up in heaven, or Elysium, Valhalla, the Beastlands, whatever afterlife you believe in."

Though the creature's face was contorted with rage and pain, I saw a glimmer of what seemed like gratitude in its eyes.

"I'm sorry," Blight whispered before slitting the creature's throat with his claws, ending its suffering.

Blight took out his blood-stained paws and walked slowly towards Marshall and Skye, where the rest of the team were gathered.

"Wrong place guys, it's just their research facility. Sorry."

"Sorry?" Ryder asked. "You've got nothing to be sorry about. If we let this place continue doing...this, more innocent pups might get dragged into it."

"Yeah," Marshall agreed. "Whatever that guy did to those creatures was sick."

"Did you find any clues about where we should go next?" I asked Blight.

"No, I did not," the wolf turned his head to the main terminal in the lab. "...yet."

"You guys rest up and let Marshall, who I presume is your medic, treat your wounds," Blight walked towards it. "This might take a while."

I sat down next to Skye, examining her wound worriedly.

"Hey, Chase?" Skye said. "Thanks for saving me back there."

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "W-well, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah," Skye smiled hesitantly. "Friends."

**Do you believe in mercy-killing? Also, sorry if I'm bad at writing fight scenes.  
**

**The title was supposed to be Chapter 10: How to fight a mutant dog-monster, but the letter limit didn't allow it :/**


	12. Chapter 11: Revelations

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Rocky**

I was completely blown-away by the technological wonders I witnessed in the laboratory.

I didn't suffer any injuries in the recent fight except for a few bruises, so I walked around the place to see what clues I can find. There were many files on Robert's experimentations on a table nearby, so I leafed through some files in the pile.

I'm not exactly fluent in Biology. After all, I'm more of a mechanics pup anyways. But it didn't stop me from being impressed by Robert's work. That guy might be a sadistic ass that preformed painful experimentations on living beings, but he's a genius all right. The files on his experimentations are eye-opening and must be worth millions if sold to a research group or university.

I kept some of the ones I deemed useful in my pup pack. Just in case. Just as I was about to leave the pile, though, a small gem caught my eye, and I picked up another file and walked over to Blight, the only other one that's not injured besides Marshall. He was focusing his eyes on a screen, going through documents in mach speed.

"Do you even read them?" I ask.

"Yes, but not really," Blight said without taking his eyes off the screen. "I can sorta...instantly know what the files in computers are saying. Like, they pass through my mind like a thought. It's a blur, but I grasp the basic information. If I need to know the details, I'll have to read them like a normal person."

"Huh, that's convenient."

"You have no idea," he muttered. "Especially when there's so much stuff to process."

"Speaking of processing information," I held out one of the files I took from Robert's desk. "Mind helping me process _this_ information?"

The file in question had a photo of Blight on its cover, titled: GO30 "Blight". It was buried deep within the pile of records, so I can only assume that it wasn't used in some time.

Blight's face betrayed no visible shock, only a yielding expression. "Ah, dangit. Should've checked the physical copies first, huh?"

"You're a smart one," he continued. "Aren't you afraid that I'll kill you to keep your mouth shut? Why let me know that you found me out?"

"Because the file said that you were used for experimentations," I said while looking around the lab with distaste. "And I don't think anyone staying in the other side of these tubes will willingly help Robert and his organization out."

"Touché," Blight chuckled.

"Besides, you just don't seem like the guy who would just kill someone for asking an uncomfortable question," I continued. "And seeing you fight those things, I knew that if you wanted to kill us..."

"...you'd be dead where you stand," Blight growled chillingly.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" he chuckled. "You didn't think that I'll miss an opportunity like that, did you?"

"Now you're just changing the subject," I shook my head. "What are you hiding?"

"Worth a shot," he shrugged. "Fine, I'll tell you everything. In fact, gather the rest around, I'll tell them all. You've all helped me so much, I owe you nothing less than the truth."

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Before long, we were all seated around Blight, who was ignoring Marshall's attempts to let him check the wolf for injuries.

"I'll be fine," he insisted. "Now, do you want to know the truth or not?"

After a while, Marshall finally conceded and went to sit next to Everest reluctantly.

"Now, let me tell you all a tale about a young, innocent wolf cub, a dangerous gang, a horrific experiment, and...me."

"You see, my early days were relatively normal," Blight started. "Though, that's on wolf standards, 'normal' changes its meaning a lot depending on species, I've learned. Anyways, it was a normal life for a wolf, you know? Eating, sleeping, playing, learning to hunt, the typical stuff."

Blight's expression of wistful yearning changed to something darker. "That was before they took us."

"'Us'?" Chase asked.

"I'm getting there," Blight continued. "They came without warning. Members of Blood Rend, armed with guns and tranquilizers. They stormed our den in the early afternoon, while my parents were still asleep."

"They murdered both of them," Blight shuddered at the memory. "My parents were killed in their sleep."

"It was ironic, my dad was always pretty paranoid about finding a safe den. He was always pretty afraid that we'll get ambushed one day," Blight chuckled darkly. "My mom, even though she wasn't my birth mother, she had always treated me as her own brood."

I looked at the wolf sympathetically. I never knew my parents-I was abandoned in the streets ever since I could remember. Seeing your loved ones die in front of you could not be easy.

"I was sure right then and there that Beatrix and I were going to die," Blight said.

"Wait, rewind for a second," Marshall interrupted. "Who's Beatrix, what happened to her?"

"Oh, right. I didn't mention her before, huh?" Blight blinked. "Beatrix is my half-sister. My birth mother died when she gave birth to me, so my dad went out to look for another mate. A month and a half later, Beatrix was born."

"Anyways, as you can probably tell, they didn't kill us," Blight waved his paws about as though to show us that he is, indeed, alive. "But after they captured both of us...well, I hoped that they did."

Blight glanced around at the laboratory. "We were brought to a place similar to this one. They did experiments on us, tried a lot of tests. At first, it was pretty bearable, but as time went on, they pushed harder and further."

Blight stared at one of the shattered tubes. "You have no idea how it feels. Being stuck in a tube, being forced fed different types of chemicals, having needles poking all around your body, they even put sedatives in the food to keep us from escaping."

"Until one day, they succeeded."

"One of the chemicals injected in my body worked," Blight said. "And before I knew it, I released a massive electromagnetic pulse into the area. Despite all the lights being broken and all their data on the experimentation being corrupted, the scientists were happier than I've ever seen them. After all, why fuss about lost data when they can just experiment on my body to find out how to recreate what I just did?"

"But at that point, enough was enough," Blight growled. "I knew that the experimentations were only going to get more and more brutal, so that night, Beatrix and I escaped."

"I realized that the sedatives weren't working on me anymore, so I ate Beatrix's portion so the guards won't get suspicious." Blight said. "And with my newfound powers, the escape was a cakewalk."

"Why go after Blood Rend then?" Chase asked. "You could've lived a normal wolf life with your sister in the woods."

"You're right. I could've," Blight replied. "But Blood Rend had different ideas."

"I remember the day like it was yesterday," Blight reminisced. "Beatrix and I were hunting for food, but that's when we heard footsteps. Human footsteps."

"We were spotted by Blood Rend members only seconds after," Blight said. "And they started shooting at us with tranquilizers. We ran away as fast as we could."

"They were hunting for me specifically," he said regretfully. "They wanted to know about my abilities, or at least kill me before I could become a threat."

"But humans can't tell us apart very well, you know?" Blight turned to Ryder. "No offense."

"None taken," Ryder offered. "Not all humans are the same."

"That night, while we were running, one of the better shooters, Daniel, must've gotten visual on us," Blight shook his head. "It should've been me. They were gunning for me specifically. Even if Daniel saw both of us and had to take a guess, karma should've been in Beatrix's favor. She was a kind soul and was nice to almost everyone. She deserved to live more than I ever did!"

Blight chuckled darkly. "But I guess the world needed to throw in one last reason for me to believe that justice doesn't exist in it."

"She fell down, unconscious," Blight said, sadness covering his eyes. "I should've stayed back, helped her, something!" Blight lowered his head. "But hearing the footsteps come closer and closer, I did the cowardly thing and ran."

Blight's tone was full of regret. "I tried to find her. Infiltrated the place I never wanted to return ever again. But when I found Beatrix, she was lying on a table, barely breathing. They figured out it wasn't me, and Beatrix paid the price."

"I still remember the feel of her blood staining my paws," Blight raised one of his paws up, as if he can still feel the blood of his sister on it. "You asked what happened to her, Marshall? They killed her, murdered her in cold blood. And I know that my sister's blood was not only on their hands, but also on mine."

"So you did it for revenge," Chase guessed. "Being a bounty hunter was a lie."

"True, I did it for revenge, at first," Blight said. "But after a while of hunting them, I realized that it wasn't personal anymore. They did terrible things to innocent beings, Beatrix and I weren't the first and will not be the last to suffer under them. Someone needed to do something. Justice might not exist, but I do."

"Being a bounty hunter wasn't a lie, by the way," Blight looked at Chase. "I became a bounty hunter so I could gather more information about Blood Rend. Besides, I need funds anyways. Being a bounty hunter killed two birds with one stone."

I looked at Chase, wondering what he might do with this new information about Blight.

"Nothing changes," Chase stood up. "Even if your motives are different than what I expected, I'll still help you with these guys. After all, they're still a threat, right?" Chase looked at us. "Any objections pups? Ryder, sir?"

None of us objected. Chase was right, nothing changed. Blood Rend is still out there doing who knows what, and we need to stop them.

Blight grinned. "Thanks, I'm pretty sure I'll have a harder time alone."

"So, where to next, Blight?" Ryder asked.

"Luckily, there's data on where Zane, the leader of Blood Rend is in the computer," Blight grinned. "Let's go, no time to lose!"

**What? You didn't think that I would give my OC super cool hacking powers without a reason, right?**


	13. Chapter 12: It's a trap!

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Chase**

The factory district of Adventure Bay. Due to the town's nature, very few know about this place, and even fewer work there. The district looked like it came straight out of a dystopian film-gray, boring, empty, and lifeless. Half of the buildings were crumbled and probably went years without maintenance, while some others were just hollow shells only there to keep up the rent. Dark alleys riddled the area where robberies often happened to unsuspecting victims that wander here during the night.

That's the only reason I even knew about this place. It had the highest crime rate in all of Adventure Bay, not because of its high density of crime, but because the police never bothered to patrol here due to the lack of...anything at all. I caught my fair share of robbers here before and didn't care to return.

Blight had learned that the main base of operations of Blood Rend will be established in this district through the computer he hacked, though the exact location wasn't precise.

"Which one is he hiding out at?" I asked Blight, who led us here after we departed from the underground laboratory. "There are a ton of factories here, any one of them would be a good spot to build a base, especially the deserted ones."

"That's why you cops aren't nearly as effective at catching criminal masterminds as you think you are," Blight smirked. "You think too lawfully. Think about it, if you have a crap ton of resources, money, and manpower in your arsenal and you're trying to escape the law, would you establish a base in the deserted parts of an otherwise habited district?"

I blinked, "So you're saying that they're not here?"

Blight smacked his face with his front paw. "No! You would rent a factory legally so the police won't think to look there. I know how Zane thinks, he always tries to go around doing things semi-legally to throw cops off his scent."

"So which factory do you think he's at, Detective Blight?" I rolled my eyes.

Blight turned around to look at us. "Which ones can we trust?"

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After some time spent guessing and arguing amongst each other, we split up to investigate the factories that we did not know the owner of.

"Officer Chase from the PAW Patrol," I flashed my badge. "I would like to ask some questions regarding the production of your factory."

"Of course," the person who greeted me replied. "What would you like to know?"

"What exactly do you produce here?"

"Knives. You might have heard of our brand name: Spiderco," the person smiled proudly.

"Oh, yeah," I said. "I use your swiss army knives."

"And I hope that our product is satisfactory for you, officer," he smiled. "Any other questions?"

"No, that'll be all," I shook my head, no sense in suspecting a factory specializing in a famous brand. "Thank you for your cooperation."

A few of the same conversations later, I met with Ryder, Blight and the rest of the pups.

"Find anything useful?" Blight asked.

"No," I shook my head. "Most of the factories I questioned were branded, I don't presume that your captors own Hush Kitties?"

"I found one factory that might be it," Marshall suggested. "They said that they manufacture medical goods, but I haven't heard of them before."

"Name?" Blight asked.

"Noble Rod."

"Sounds suspicious enough," Blight grinned jokingly. "We've got no other leads anyways."

And that's how we found ourselves in front of a large building not unlike the others. However, my intuition tells me that something is...different about this factory.

I sniffed the air, hoping to catch a whiff of the drugs that may have been transported here once, but the smell of industrialization (see: smoke) filled the air, making it hard to identify smells.

As we entered the building, my stomach twisted. Something did not feel right.

"Blight," I whispered. "I have a bad feeling about this place."

"Same here," he whispered back. "Get your gun ready and be ready to shoot as soon as something suspicious happens."

"Yeah...about that..." I scratched the back of my head nervously.

"Why am I surprised," Blight rolled his eyes. "Did you charge your stun gun at least?"

"Yeah, what kind of cop will I be if I forgot to do that?"

"A gunless one, apparently," Blight grumbled.

Before I could formulate a response, however, a large CLANG was heard from behind. When I turned around, I saw that two people I didn't notice when coming in had closed the gates.

Blight must've came to the same conclusion as I had. "IT'S A TRAP!"

Before I could do anything to defend myself, a sudden stab of pain from my foreleg told me that I've been hit by something. It was when my eyelids start to drop down when I realized that I was a tranquilizer dart, and darkness soon fell upon me.

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I've put countless criminals behind bars before, so it's refreshing to be on the other side of said bars.

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a holding cell of some sort. My front paws still felt sore from the tranquilizer dart, but I was otherwise unharmed.

Rocky was in the same cell as I was, though he's still out cold. I didn't see any of my other friends, they're most likely being held in different cells.

"I see that you're awake, pup," a male voice said behind me.

A middle-aged man stood on the other side of the bars, looking at me calculatingly. His appearance was rugged, though he looked quite slim. His eyes were light gray and his short, messy hair was goldish-brown. He had the look of an experienced leader and diplomat that worked exclusively for underground businesses, with a confident smile and a wicked expression. It didn't take me long to guess who's talking.

"Zane," I bared my teeth.

"We have a detective here," the man, Zane, smirked. "I presume that our friend Blight told you all about me."

"Only that you're a sick psycho that runs this organization," I replied. "He didn't think you're important enough to tell us anything else."

Zane narrowed his eyes. "Let's get straight to the point, pup. While I would much rather extract information from your human leader or Blight, your owner does not seem to be in talking mood, and the wolf managed to escape, along with that Cockapoo."

I instantly perked up at the thought of Skye managing to escape, but I kept my cool. "Sounds like you have a conundrum, because I'm not feeling like talking either."

"Hear me out first," Zane said calmly. "I want you to understand that we do not need to be enemies. Sure, I run an underground business, but we don't kill humans unless they explicitly stand in our way."

"I don't like how you put an emphasis on 'humans'," I growled, remembering Robert's laboratory.

"Guilty," Zane raised his hands. "But those experiments were mostly there to keep Robert happy. He is a valuable asset, after all, and sometimes he comes up with something particularly useful for us. Though, I suppose that keeping him happy wouldn't be necessary now, huh?"

The man laughed as if he's telling a casual joke to a friend.

"Anyways, I just want to know where the wolf is," Zane said. "Give me the information, and I'll release you and your friends."

"What makes you think that I'll know where he is?"

"I don't know," Zane shrugged. "You might've learned something of value from him."

"Not your lucky day, I guess," I shrugged. "He barely told us anything about himself."

"Then what about another proposal?" he suggested. "Why don't you _help_ me find him? I'll even let you bring him to the authorities."

"Why should I help you?"

"Simple, he's a criminal," Zane smirked. "Listen, even if you bring _me_ to court right now, you won't have anything against me. I know how to cover my tracks, pup, and I have countless allies ready to testify for me. The wolf, on the other hand, has quite a record for crimes."

"Theft, illegal computer access, unlicensed driving...if that even counts as driving, and most important of all, murder."

I stared at him silently.

"You see? This wolf is a criminal as well, noble as his intentions may be, so it's in your interest to bring him to the authorities," Zane said. "In fact, I'm _letting_ you bring him to a proper judge, can the wolf say the same? Remember Daniel?"

To be completely honest, it was an easy choice. On one paw, I can reject him and potentially put my friends in danger. We are, after all, at the mercy of this man. On the other paw, I could accept his offer and bring someone who broke laws into justice and ensure the safety of my friends. Even a kindergartener knows what the right choice is in this situation.

"Go to hell, Zane." I snarled.

Zane looked taken aback by my response for a moment before recollecting himself. "Suit yourself. I'll deal with you after I find that pesky wolf, you picked the wrong side, pup."

On that note, the man left me and the still unconscious Rocky alone, leaving through a metal door.

So what if Blight broke the rules sometimes? As Zane said, his intentions were noble. Firstly only for vengeance for his sister, now for the sake of the innocents that may suffer under Blood Rend if he didn't act. I might not completely agree on his actions, but I will not let the law cloud my judgment on what's right.

Hopefully, Skye is okay with him.

**I do not own Spiderco. I don't own Hush Kitties either.**


	14. Chapter 13: Trust

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Skye**

I am most certainly not okay by any definitions possible.

It was a miracle that I wasn't put to sleep like the rest of the PAW Patrol, but I suppose being small has its perks.

The dart had missed me by a hair, though I was too stunned at the moment to capitalize. If it wasn't for Blight, I would've been knocked out in a much more painful fashion.

The wolf had dodged the dart that was flying towards him and quickly tackled me away from an incoming baton. When I snapped out of my shock, the wolf ran away and motioned for me to follow his lead. We ran past a few guards, and more than one tranquilizer dart had gotten too close for comfort. But eventually, we managed to exit the factory and escape our pursuers.

All the while, I was extremely concerned for my friends. What would happen to them? If Blight was telling the truth about how ruthless Blood Rend can be, I fear for their lives. I didn't want any of them to end up in one of those test tubes we saw back then.

When things eventually calmed down a bit, I expressed my concerns to Blight.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you," Blight said. "After all, they used tranquilizers. If Zane wanted to kill them, their blood would be staining the floors of his factory as we speak."

"Geez, you're doing a good job at comforting me," I shuddered at the image. "You sure that you're a hacker and not a poet?"

"I'm not your freaking mate, girl," Blight rolled his eyes. "It's not my job to comfort you. It's my job as your ally to tell you the truth about the direness of our situation, and the truth is just that. Worrying about your friends won't prevent them from getting killed right now of Zane wants them dead. All we can do now is focus on what to do next."

"What _do_ we do next?" I asked.

"That depends," Blight suddenly took on a bitter tone. "How likely is it that your boyfriend will betray me?"

It took me a moment to realize who he's talking about. "Chase? First off, he's not my boyfriend-"

"Could've fooled me..." he muttered under his breath.

I ignored him. "-and second of all, he would never betray his friends. Chase is loyal to a cause, he'll rather die than betray one of us."

"I know," Blight replied simply. "I'm not asking if he'll betray you, Skye. I'm asking if he'll betray _me_."

Suddenly what Blight implied became clear to me. Blight never considered any of us as actual friends. Allies, sure. But friends? That's a bit of a strong term for a group of pups you've met for only a day, especially since one of them had been explicitly clear on not trusting him. But Chase siding with a criminal against him?

"I know what you're thinking," Blight interrupted my thoughts. "But you underestimate how convincing Zane can be. Not to mention the number of crimes he can prove that I've committed."

"Just to be clear," I said warily. "Are you actually guilty of any of them?"

Blight stared at me for a whole second before responding. "Well, if we're using the term 'crime' here as in acts that are against the law set by bureaucrats, then yes. Yes, I am."

This time, I was the one staring at him.

"Geez, it's not anything they didn't deserve," Blight rolled his eyes. "Stealing their 'research equipment', sabotaging their drug transport operations, hacking their documents, and I may or may not have killed a few particularly bad people along the way."

"Trust me, nothing they didn't deserve already," Blight growled. "Especially the ones I've killed. If anything, they deserved to suffer even more."

I sighed. "You can't just kill someone if it isn't for self-defense, no matter how bad they are. You could've just handed them over to the cops. After all, no one-"

"-should be able to decide the fate of another individual without a proper trial?" Blight chuckled. "Chase told me the same thing before."

"Tell me, Skye," Blight stared at me straight in the eyes. "Do you think I _enjoy_ killing? Do you believe that I think its _fun_? To take away the life of a living person? To take away their future? To potentially rob an innocent soul of their loved ones?"

I flinched away from the wolf's glare.

Blight blinked at my reaction before turning his head away. "Sorry."

I looked at Blight curiously. Although the wolf had acted remorseless about the death of Daniel (Chase told me the story), I could tell that he genuinely didn't enjoy it, nor did he like it in the slightest.

"He won't," I finally said.

"What?" Blight turned to look at me.

"You asked me if Chase will sell you out," I explained. "He won't. Chase might not seem to like you, but I know him well enough to know that he'll never work for Zane if he's as bad as you claim. I trust him."

Blight looked at me thoughtfully, "Okay, question two then. Why should I help them?"

"What?"

"Why should I risk my neck to help them when I could instead, say, blow the factory up?" Blight asked, his expression betraying no emotion. "It would still help me complete my goal of taking down Blood Rend, would it not?"

This time, I didn't hesitate, "Yeah, helping them will be riskier than using that plan of yours, but I'm going to save them, with or without you. And if you actually try to blow up the factory that my friends might be in," I glared at the wolf. "You'll have to worry about someone other than Blood Rend."

Blight stared at me, but this time I didn't flinch.

"That's a good enough answer for me," Blight chuckled. "That question was supposed to be rhetorical anyway."

"You mean you'll help me?"

"It'd be a cold day in hell before I abandoned my allies," Blight grinned. "Besides, I trust your judgment of your friend. If things ever come to it, I can escape him easily enough anyway."

"Awesome!" I perked up. "Come on! They could be waiting for us right now!"

"Hold your horses, girl," Blight chuckled. "Contrary to popular belief, rushing headlong into enemy territory won't do any good. For you anyway, it would do a lot of good for your enemies."

"What then?"

"For now," Blight looked up at the sky, which is beginning to darken. "Sleep on it. The most untrained pup would be more useful than a tired one. It's been a long day, get some sleep."

I wanted to protest, but was cut off by a yawn. "What about the others?" I said tiredly, despite my best efforts to stay awake.

"I already told you, worrying about them won't do any good," Blight replied. "Sleep. Your friends depend on you staying awake when you bust them out."

Before I could reply, my eyelids snapped shut as I drifted off to dreamless sleep.

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Blight stared at the female cockapoo that lay asleep next to him.

He didn't understand her trust. No, not her trust for her friend.

Her trust for him.

Despite the wolf confessing about the crimes he had committed, she had not run from him in fear. Despite him implying that he may not save her friends due to 'inconvenience', she had accepted his help, not even fearing betrayal.

Of course, that was only a joke on his part, though his jokes were not generally well-received. But still...

Blight's thoughts shifted to Chase. The German Sheperd had witnessed Blight killing Daniel with his own eyes. Blight had fully expected him to refuse to help him after that, or at least called the authorities on him, and yet...

The wolf stared into the night sky and chuckled quietly, it had been a long time since he met someone who made him fully think about his actions.

Blight's thoughts were interrupted by Skye's movements, the small pup was shivering in the cold.

The wolf looked around and saw a clothing store on the other side of the street, unguarded.

Blight grinned. Hopefully, the store owner wouldn't mind him borrowing some clothes to be repurposed as blankets.

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After I woke up, refreshed, Blight tossed me my pup pack that I left in my helicopter and barked at me to follow him.

Sheesh, be nice to someone and suddenly you're moving too slow for them.

I noticed that I've been sleeping under a jacket the whole night, must've pulled it over myself in my half-conscious state. Although I wondered what a perfectly good jacket was doing in a dark, uninhabited alleyway.

Before I could ponder this further, however, Blight barked at me again forcing me to leave the questions behind to follow the wolf.

**Boring chapter, I know. Just needed some filler before the great heist can commence.**


	15. Chapter 14: Escape

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Marshall**

Being stuck in a cage did a number to Everest, and I worry for her.

Being used to the great outdoors, Everest did not cope well with the limited space. The fact that we had no confirmation that our friends are okay isn't helping either.

Honestly, I don't blame her. We heard nothing of our friends whatsoever, and no one had come to our cell. The bars were rather sturdy, and nothing we did made a dent. I've always dreamed of being alone with Everest, but the situation was...less than ideal.

The next morning, we found a bowl of slop in our cell. Everest didn't touch it. Neither did I. However, I knew that if it came to it, we would need to eat whatever that disgusting slop was to prevent ourselves from starving.

Note the word 'if'.

Around an hour passed before my nose picked up a familiar scent. The sewer grate in front of our cell creaked open slowly before Blight and Skye exited it, their fur wet with...I don't even want to know _what_ they were wet with.

"Uugh, that sucked," Skye coughed out some sewer water. "Good thing no one had to bear _that_ boring trip besides us."

Everest yelped in joy upon seeing them, "Skye! You escaped?"

"Never caught in the first place," Blight grinned. "Girl's lucky she's so small. Now quiet down, you don't want them hearing us do you?"

"The door's a traditional one," I said. "I don't think you'll have much luck hacking it."

"Who said anything about hacking?" Blight raised his front paw to reveal several sharp claws. "If you live my life, you'll learn quickly that you can't just rely on a single skill, no matter how good that skill is."

It took a few minutes, but eventually, Blight successfully opened the lock with his claws.

"The sweet air of freedom!" Everest exclaimed. "I was getting claustrophobic in there."

"We're not out of the woods yet," Blight stated. "We need to find the rest of the PAW Patrol first."

"How did you know we're here anyway?" I asked.

"I hacked one of their phones on the way out," Blight said. "They didn't have a complete map of the place inside, of course. But I figured out the general direction of the holding cells from texts."

"Detective Blight indeed," I smiled, remembering one of Chase's jabs on the wolf.

"No detectives here," Blight said. "Only a guy trying to survive. Come on, no time to waste. Let's bust out the rest of your friends."

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After a while, we have freed most of our friends, including Ryder. However, 2 of us remain missing.

"Where's Chase?" Skye asked worriedly as we checked the last chamber in the hallway of cells. "And Rocky? Why aren't they here?"

I sniffed the room, "They were definitely here before, maybe they got taken to another place?"

"Zane likes to talk others to his side," Blight said. "But I'm pretty sure he prefers talking to only one person at a time. More personal, you know?"

"Yeah," Ryder said. "He tried to talk me into helping him before."

"So either he made an exception for them both," Blight reasoned. "Or..."

"Why do I have a feeling that I don't want you finishing that sentence?"

"No use in worrying for now," Blight turned to face us. "This place is way too big to cover, we need to split up."

"Again?" Rubble asked.

"Yes, again," Blight said. "It's not just about covering more ground either, roaming in a group will just make us easier to spot."

"And this is no place for children," Blight looked at Rubble and Zuma specifically when he said that.

"Hey, you ain't getting wid of us that easy dude," Zuma protested. "We wanna help!"

"You can help by leaving the building," Blight said calmly. "Putting age aside, you and Rubble are both terrible at sneaking around. If you get caught, you might compromise all of us."

Blight looked at Ryder. "Can you bring them outside? No offense, but humans aren't nearly as good as tracking others down."

"None taken," Ryder faced Zuma and Rubble. "Come on pups, let's get out first."

"Just because you're leaving doesn't mean you're excused from helping us out," Blight added upon seeing the two's reluctance. "Call the police if I give the signal. Or maybe the fire department, who knows what'll happen in here?"

Finally, they conceded. "What's the signal?" Rubble asked.

"You'll know when you see it," Blight said. "Though, I guess that if stuff starts blowing up, it's a no brainer, huh?"

"You aren't gonna blow anything up, are you?" Skye asked worriedly.

"Wasn't planning on it," Blight shrugged. "But again, who knows?"

"You both," Blight pointed to me and Everest. "Go together. I'll go with Skye. Any questions?"

No paws were raised.

"Good," Blight grinned. "Let's go."

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After taking down the guard standing at the entrance of the holding cells (and throwing him into one of the said cells), we parted ways. Ryder brought Rubble and Zuma outside, Blight and Skye went upstairs while Everest and I went to the basement.

It was just like when we were in the abandoned mansion, except this place was significantly less abandoned.

Many guards roamed the hallways in search of potential intruders. I didn't have any difficulty in sneaking past most of them, being skilled in pup-fu, but I worried for Everest at first. However, it turns out that my worries weren't necessary, Everest was even quieter than I was, her time in the artic forcing her to practice stealth to hunt and avoid being hunted herself.

We discovered many rooms holding drugs and weapons of all kinds, it seems that they used the basement of the building as a storage or something.

Just as we're about to leave, my nose picked up a familiar scent amongst the smell of drugs and gunpowder.

"Everest," I whispered. "I think I smell Rocky."

Everest smelled around and nodded in confirmation before slowly pointing at one of the shelves.

I walked towards the shelf and noticed a small hidden room on the other side. I gestured for Everest to help push it aside, revealing a hidden staircase leading deeper down into another room.

I glanced at Everest, who nodded knowingly. Rocky's scent was strong, he is in that room.

I led the way, quietly walking against the door before slowly creaking it open. Inside, Rocky was struggling against a chain, attempting to break it with no avail. In front of him stood a tall, muscular man who was grinning sadistically as he watched Rocky strain against the metal leash, in his hand was a-

Oh, gods.

The man was holding a freaking whip in his hand, not your garden variety rope strap either, it was finely crafted, made to maximize the victim's pain.

Everest, seeing this, immediately became furious. Before I could stop her, she had already rushed in, tackling the man inside forcefully.

The man was surprised by the sudden attack and stumbled to the side, Rocky, however, was elated, "Everest!"

I slowly crept into the room, trying my best to stay out of the man's line of sight, preparing for a potential ambush.

Although the man seemed stunned by Everest's sudden attack, he recovered quickly and grinned maliciously, "Ah, so your little friend has decided to come join the fun, eh?"

"If by 'fun' you mean 'kicking your ass', then yeah, I have," Everest growled. "Let go of my friend, now!"

"Let me think about that," the man said mockingly. "No, I think I'll capture you instead."

"Try me," Everest growled before leaping onto him, trying to attack.

This time, however, the man was prepared.

In a blink of an eye, the man pulled out his whip and brought it down hard upon Everest. She yelped in pain before nimbly getting back onto her feet, preparing for a follow-up.

However, the man did not seem particularly rushed, he simply smiled and readied his whip.

I tried to analyze the situation. The man wasn't using a gun, that's good. This is probably a torture room of some sort, so having a gun will be kinda against the point.

The man held a whip, which had long range and can be incredibly versatile in the right hands. It's fast and can inflict pain rather effectively, though whips tend to struggle in landing lethal blows. From what Chase taught me, if someone held a whip with the intention to kill, they'll usually attempt to choke their target instead of actually whipping them to death.

For a moment, both sides simply circled around each other, waiting for their opponent to make a mistake. I still crouched low behind a table, waiting for the man's back to turn against me.

Everest was the first to make a move, rushing towards the man with uncanny speed. He tried to attack her, but she dodged to the side before biting the man's leg, making him grunt in pain. However, the man was quick to retaliate with another swing of his whip, hitting Everest once again.

That was my moment.

I sprinted towards the man and bit deep into his shoulder, drawing blood. The man was obviously surprised by another attack but quickly struggled to get me off him. I held on persistently, but his constant movement forced me to land back onto the ground. While mid-air, I noticed something flying from the man's pocket, but I didn't pay it any mind.

Though battered and bloodied, Rocky's tormenter didn't seem to slow down on his movements. He quickly lashed his whip towards me, but I dodged it, my pup-fu training not going to waste.

"So another little puppy has decided to join in," the man said amusedly. "No worries, even if 3 is a bit of a crowd, I'm sure Zane won't mind."

He looked at something behind me and smirked, "And it seems that he's watching right now."

I turned to look at what he's talking about and saw a camera positioned in a dark corner, blinking steadily with a blue light.

That was a mistake.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the man kicked me harshly and forced me into a laid position with his foot. Everest rushed forward to help me but was hit in the nose by the man. That, coupled with her other injuries, knocked her unconscious.

"Everest!" I shouted helplessly.

"Don't you worry little pup," the man grinned sadistically. "You and your little friend will meet each other soon. Whether it'd be in this torture room, or in heaven will be Zane's decision."

Turns out, it wouldn't be.

A loud BANG was heard before the man fell down, unconscious. Rocky stood behind him, a metal bar of some kind in his mouth.

"Rocky?!" I shouted surprisedly. "How did you get free?"

"The guy dropped his key while he was trying to get you off him," Rocky dropped the bar from his mouth. "It took a bit of struggling, but I managed to unlock the chain. I didn't kill him, did I?"

I checked his pulse, "Nope, still alive."

"Everest?"

I rushed over to the Husky and checked hers, "Alive, but she's seriously injured."

"This is bad," Rocky's eyes darted around the room. "We're being watched at this very moment, they saw all that and are probably sending reinforcements right now! What do we do?"

Good question.

I honestly do not know what my answer would've been.

But at that moment, an ear-ringing explosion from upstairs answered all the questions we had.

"I'll carry Everest," I looked back at a surprised Rocky. "Run!"

**What story would it be without explosions, right? **


	16. Chapter 15: Light em up up up

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Zuma**

I watched the building that had just blown up and was on fire, worrying for my friends inside. Ryder was beside me, frantically calling the fire department, or the police, or maybe both.

"So that's the signal," Rubble said naively. "I thought it was gonna be like a flag or something. Blight really thought things out to have brought explosives with him for the signal, huh?"

"I'm suwe he did, Wubble," I said. "I'm suwe he did."

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**Chase**

I sat on a human-sized chair opposite to Zane. He invited me to chat with him upstairs, though the word 'invited' was used vaguely, 2 guards woke me abruptly and brought me to his office.

I didn't see Rocky in the cell, which was concerning.

However, as I sat to the opposite of the man that Blight warned us about, I decided that Rocky's mysterious disappearance from his cell ca be questioned later.

The guards that took me to the office didn't seem particularly worried about me knowing the layout of the building, so they didn't blindfold me. Though I have already seen the main portion of the ground floor, the guards had brought me upstairs, giving me a view of many wiring and machinery that extended there, most likely haven't been cleaned up yet. Outside of Zane's office was a cooking station and a gas canister, most likely set up to be a temporary kitchen.

The office itself was clean and tidy compared to the rest of the second floor. The room was rather plain, with only a desk in the middle with two chairs opposite each other. On the desk stood a computer, probably for filing purposes.

"My apologies for not having more comfortable seating alternatives for you," Zane said while drinking from his cup. "I'm afraid that I don't get the pleasure of talking to your kind much."

"No, really?" I asked sarcastically.

Zane frowned. "I already told you, I do not involve myself much into Robert's experiments. I provide him with money while he presents me the results of his experimentations. Very rarely will I call for his services."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Can't even find more time for small talk, could we?" Zane sighed while setting down his cup. "I'm here to talk about the deal I presented you last night."

"No deal," I said with a note of finality.

"I simply do not grasp why you would refuse," Zane said calmly. "The wolf, as I know, had no ties or connections with your team whatsoever prior to the fire that happened in the hospital."

"That _you_ caused," I growled.

He ignored me. "It is in your best to ensure your friends' safety, is it not? By refusing me, you are simply putting them in risk. Why would you put a wolf you've only recently met over your friends?"

"I'm putting justice over them," I retorted. "And I know for a fact that they'll understand."

Zane sighed. "I hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but I'm afraid you leave me no choice."

I flinched, fully expecting him to attack me. But Zane simply pushed a button on his remote, activating a screen on the desk.

In the video feed, I could see a dark room with two figures within. One of the figures was a human, strong and masculine, wielding a whip with his right hand. The other one I recognized immediately.

"Rocky!" I shouted despite knowing that he couldn't hear me, much less respond.

"I do not usually like to resort to such methods," Zane said calmly. "But I'm afraid you left me with no choice."

"Let go of him, you bastard!" I yelled.

"No, I do not think I will," Zane smirked, knowing full well that he had the upper hand in this conversation. "I'm afraid that the wolf you're working with has been a thorn on my side for a long time now, and I cannot let anyone associated with him come and go so easily. Now tell me, are you willing to work for me? Or are you willing to watch your friend get tortured in front of you?"

I considered attacking that bastard right there and then, but the two guards that brought me here still stood at the entrance, guns ready.

Dangit, Chase. You just couldn't have brought a gun even only for self-defense, could you?

Perhaps I would've surrendered to Zane. After all, watching my friend get beaten would not have bode well with me. But at that moment, Everest slammed into the torturer's side, knocking him off balance.

Zane must've been as surprised as I was at the sudden turn of events, because it took him a full second before going into his comms. "This is Zane, we have a code B7 a dog had broken out of its containment. Send backup to the torture chamber. I repeat, send backup to the torture chamber."

"They won't hear that, you know?" a familiar voice said from behind.

As I turned around, I saw that Blight had somehow knocked out the guards at the entrance without even making a sound. He grinned as he pointed a pistol at Zane's head, wielding the gun with uncanny dexterity for an untrained non-human.

"Blight," I shouted. "Where are the rest?"

"I take it you saw Rocky and Everest," Blight said without taking his eyes of Zane. "Marshall's with Everest, and I sent Rubble, Zuma, and Ryder outside. Skye was with me, but I told her to go to the basement in case they need any help."

"What now, wolf?" Zane said as calmly as ever, though this time, I saw a flash of fear in his eyes. "Kill me. Is that not what you have wanted your entire life?"

"Tempting," Blight said. "But, no thanks. You have too much credit for yourself, Zane. To me, you're just a means to an end, an end to Blood Rend."

"Besides," he grinned. "I owe Chase one for deciding to side with me, so I'll play nice and hand you over to the cops."

I rolled my eyes, "Should I cuff him?"

"Yeah, good idea," Blight said. "Don't let him try anything."

However, as I stepped towards Zane, he immediately pulled out a hidden pistol and fired in my direction.

Luckily, Zane was a terrible shot. Not-so-luckily, Zane was a terrible shot.

His bullet hit directly at the gas canister just outside the office, causing an ear-shattering explosion. Immediately, Zane cried out in pain as Blight had shot his right arm and leg just before he pulled out his gun.

"Dangit!" Blight threw his gun down frustratedly. "I couldn't get a clear shot without risking hitting you."

"Sorry."

Blight turned his head around. "We need to run."

The wolf wasn't kidding, the explosion had resulted in a massive flame that is already spreading incredibly quickly. I tried to remember what Marshall had told me, gas canisters explosions can't be put out by water, right? Too bad that particular advice isn't very useful in this situation.

"Wait," I turned to Zane. "What about him?"

"Leave him," Blight said to absolutely no one's surprised. "Putting aside the fact that he's an ass, we can't save him, even if we wanted you."

"Still as calculating as ever, I see," Zane smirked at Blight. "Putting your own safety above all else, even if it means leaving behind a loved one."

Blight's eyes flashed dangerously, and a single gunshot was heard before Zane collapsed lifelessly onto the floor. I didn't even see him grab the gun.

"Sorry," Blight said coldly, his eyes still gleaming with a murderous rage. "Think of it this way, it's a way less painful death than burning alive."

I shook my head and ran with him towards the stairs, knowing that this isn't the time for deep philosophical debates about the morals of killing someone.

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The stairs were blocked off. Of course the stairs were blocked off.

A giant pile of burning rubble stood at the top of the stairs, blocking it off. I tried to push it, but there was no way we'd be able to clear out a path before either the fire or the lack of oxygen got to us.

"I sense something over there," Blight pointed to the direction opposite to the stairs.

"We aren't really in dire need for cell phones right now," I said. "Unless you wanted to say your goodbyes already?"

"Very funny, Chase." Blight rolled his eyes. "It's tall, really tall. I would bet that it's an elevator or something."

"You think?"

"You rather stay here? I think I can find a phone for those goodbyes."

And that's how I ended up following Blight blindly into the flames. Before long, true to his word, we found an elevator. However, it was immediately apparent that the narrow size of it will only fit one of us inside.

"This thing isn't even close to being finished," Blight commented. "Don't think it'll even last a single trip, and that's if you're lucky."

I took a sharp breath in on that. That means only one of us could get down with it. "You think that it's safe?"

"I can easily send that thing down," Blight snorted. "But as I said, the string will barely last a single trip, no hacking powers in the world will change that."

I sighed, "Blight, you should-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Blight had delivered a sharp jab to my side and immediately pushed me into the elevator before slamming the door shut in front of my face.

"What the-" I was completely shocked by the turn of events.

"Yeah, I know what you were trying to do there," Blight chuckled from the other side of the door. "Sorry, mate. Ain't happening."

"You had every chance to get away," I shouted. "Even if I were to attempt to get on this thing first, I couldn't even use it without you!"

"You didn't," Blight said. "Besides, You've got a lot more to live for."

"So do you!" immediately after saying that, I realized my mistake.

"No, Chase," Blight said sadly. "All my life, hunting Blood Rend had been all I did. As this building burns down, so shall I."

"You still have a lot to do," Blight continued. "You're still a young cop. You have crimes to solve, criminals to catch, and a whole lot of innocent lives to save."

"But-" Blight didn't let me finish.

"And most importantly, your friends," his voice was sorrow. "I know how it feels to have a loved one taken from me by death, I don't want anyone else to feel like that. You have a lot of friends: Ryder, Rocky, Marshall, you should really ask Skye out someday," he chuckled. "But me? I don't have anyone out there that truly cared for me. My family is dead, and my life as a bounty hunter never made me many friends. People will cry at your funeral, Chase, but no tears will be shed for me."

I remained silent this time, unsure as of what to say.

"You and your friends taught me a lot, Chase," I can almost hear Blight's grin from the other side of the door. "Thank you, and...I'm sorry."

And on that note, the elevator zoomed down, bringing me to the ground floor and leaving Blight to fend for himself.

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Blight grimaced as he heard the elevator's rope snap under the strain. There goes any hope that his calculations were wrong. Hopefully, Chase made it down safely.

Blight smiled to himself, confident that he did the right thing by saving Chase. As he said so himself, no tears will be shed for him.

Though, he wasn't going to pat himself on the back just yet.

Blight was never the one to surrender to destiny. His grin was strained as he watched the building collapse into itself around him.

_Parkour skills, don't fail me now._

**This should be the last update before the epilogue. We'll see.**

**Also, to the people that say that elevators aren't _that_ narrow, well, you've just been in good elevators.**


	17. Epilouge: An ending

**Disclaimer: I do not own PAW Patrol or any of its characters. I only own Blight.**

**Epilogue**

Blight didn't know how he opened his eyes.

Dead men usually had their eyes closed, don't they?

But as he weakly raised his eyelids, he saw a blinding light above him and heard voices around him as he slowly came to his senses.

"The wolf's awake!"

"Call the PAW Patrol."

Usually, if the first thing you heard after you woke up is something along the lines of 'call the emergency service', you'd be worried. But Blight didn't care.

Either his allies cared about him enough that they wanted to see him recover, or he's being thrown into jail.

Either way, Blight was rather sure that he successfully eliminated Blood Rend and survived the process.

He could live with that.

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"Why is he still unconscious?" I asked as I stared at the wolf in the bed. He was laying down and his eyes were closed, his breathing steady. Never did I think I would see Blight this at peace.

"He showed signs of awakening earlier," the doctor explained. "It is natural for patients in such dire physical state to fall unconscious shortly after regaining it. Honestly, it's a miracle that he's still breathing at all."

The PAW Patrol had retrieved Blight's body under the rubbles of the burnt down factory that was once the base of Blood Rend. The body was miraculously not burnt to crisp, and they thought that it meant Blight will at least get a full burial. But when Marshall sensed that the wolf still had a pulse, he was sent to The Pups and Humans Hospital in record time.

"Damaged spine, severe internal bleeding, carbon monoxide poisoning... And that's only a small fraction of injuries that he had sustained!" the doctor continued. "I learned the physiology of dogs, not wolves. But if I am a bettor, I'd bet that the wolf is genetically mutated or something."

Chase chuckled nervously, unsure if Blight would like it if he told the doctor he'd have won money if he actually betted.

The PAW Patrol returned to the hideout to tend to their duties after the doctor assured them that Blight would be safe. Chase went to the police station to check the reports of the police that worked on this case.

"Officer Chase," the head officer greeted him. "Here to review the files on Blood Rend? I have to say, amazing fieldwork out there."

"It wasn't just me."

"Yes, of course," the head officer chuckled. "Always nice to have a good team backing you up, eh?"

Chase smiled back in response. "It is."

"Anyways, you're here for the files, right?" the head officer flipped through some files. "To give you a quick summary, we managed to track down the remaining gang members quite easily. Without Zane, the entire organization collapsed into itself."

"Loot?"

"Pretty much as expected," he replied. "Tons of drugs, the weight measure, mind you, were found. All sorts of different kinds too. I'd say that we cut off most supplies for a lot of drug dealers in the process if the records are to be trusted. A lot of illegal weaponry and a boatload of money too. However..."

"What?"

"There was a big transaction recently," the head officer said. "500,000 dollars transferred to an unknown bank account. We haven't even been able to track down the account yet."

500,000 was a large sum, but it was minuscule compared to the vast amount of money Zane was hoarding. Chase suspected that a few days will pass before the police gave up on trying to track the account down. Maybe Blight can track it somehow.

"Thanks," Chase said. "I'll be taking my leave now."

"Bon voyage," the head officer joked. "and stay frosty, Chase. You're a good cop, don't forget that."

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Skye loved watching stars.

They decorated the otherwise dull, black night sky and shone brightly even in darkest nights.

"Watching the sky again?" she heard a voice behind her.

She knew who was talking to her without needing to turn her head, "How did the police handle things, Chase?"

"The usual," the German Shepherd sat next to her. "Capturing the remaining members, collecting the evidence, et cetera. Blood Rend will be done in a day or two, at least for a while."

"Who is this pessimistic pup that I'm talking to?" Skye jokingly punched Chase's shoulder. "You're spending way too much time with Blight."

"Blight will argue that it's _pragmatism._" Chase rubbed the spot from where he was punched before muttering under his breath. "Unkillable, lucky, son of a bitch..."

"You seem angry that he's alive," Skye smiled.

"I'm just angry at him in general," Chase said. "Who does he think he is? Doing that stupid, cliché, heroic sacrifice thing."

"He didn't die," Skye noted.

"The way he was talking, that bastard probably didn't even think that he'd survive," Chase rolled his eyes.

For a while, silence coated between the two.

"So, you know," Chase broke the silence. "Speaking of Blight, he did ask me to do something..."

"What is it?"

"So, I-uh..." Chase blushed visibly. "I'm wondering i-if we can go out s-sometime. L-like, just the two of us."

It took Skye a few seconds to piece together what Chase was implying. "You mean like a date?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Chase said hurriedly. "It's j-just that if you wanted to..."

Skye kissed Chase in the cheek suddenly, surprising the German Shepherd. "I'd love to," she chuckled.

"Umm, yeah. Great..." Chase said, still recovering from the shock of Skye's sudden kiss.

Two pups watched this exchange from a distance, chuckling at Chase's reaction. One was a Dalmatian while the other was a Husky.

"Aww, Chase finally asked Skye out," Everest smiled.

"Took him long enough, too," Marshall remarked. "He had a crush on her since day one."

"Isn't it so romantic," Everest said dreamily. "To have someone confess love to you in a starry night like this one?"

"Uh, yeah," Marshall said distractedly while staring at the Husky, his mind working overtime to figure out if there's a hidden meaning behind the sentence.

When Everest looked back at Marshall strangely, he finally realized that he had been staring at her for a long time.

"WaitIthinkRyderneedssomehelpwithstufformaybeBlight'sdoctorneedshelpormaybeChickalettaneedshelpohyeahohyesGOTTAGO!" Marshall said hurriedly before leaving the scene, his face beet red.

Everest chuckled at the Dalmatian's antiques before returning her attention to Skye and Chase.

"Maybe next time," she whispered. "Next time."

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Kyle was strapped for cash and out of luck.

He didn't suffer under Blood Rend's tyranny by choice, his wife's cancer didn't leave him much choice in the matter.

However, even he knew when to nope out, and when a wolf was involved, that was a definite red flag.

Watching the news channel right now, he was glad that he left when he did. Kyle was sure that he'd end up like his former colleagues if he had stayed. However, that didn't solve his problems.

Which is why he's currently standing outside his wife's doctor's office nervously, contemplating how he should explain that he still didn't have the money to pay his wife's medical bills.

However, when he finally mustered enough courage to step into the office, he was greeted by a bright smile.

"Mr. Warren!" the doctor greeted him. "I have received payment for your wife's treatment. Rest assured, she'll be as healthy as a horse in no time."

Upon seeing Kyle's confusion, the doctor simply showed him a record of a bank transaction on his computer, showing that 500,000 dollars have been transferred to the hospital with a note:

**_For the treatment of Mrs. Warren_**

**_Consider the rest as a donation to the hospital if there's extra, I guess._**

Kyle couldn't believe his eyes, but when the doctor assured him (for the umpteenth time) that the treatment will go underway in a week, he was filled with tears of joy.

His wife will be safe.

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**One week after the fall of Blood Rend...**

Blight gave Chase his tablet, his most prized possession. "Keep it safe for me, will you?"

"Why are you giving me this?" Chase asked as he inspected the wolf. Just a week ago, he was indistinguishable from a corpse. But now, he's up and running yet again, his wounds already fully recovered.

Chase was no doctor, but he knew that broken ribs don't heal so quickly.

"It contains a lot of information about the different gangs that I have encountered," Blight said. "If any of them causes trouble here, there might be something you can use in there."

"I also keep a log there as well," Blight continued. "A journal of some sort. Recordings that I made."

"I'll keep it safe," Chase promised. "Won't let anything happen to it."

"You'd better," Chase had known Blight enough at that point to hear the unvoiced threat.

"Why don't you stay?" Chase asked. "The PAW Patrol can really use more paws."

"I don't do groups," Blight said. "And not because I'm a loner or some cliché crap like that, I just don't work well in groups. Besides, your townspeople probably won't give me a warm welcome after I broke their rules for the umpteenth time."

"Blood Rend ain't the only people going around causing misery," Blight said. "And if no one does anything about them, lots of innocent people are gonna get hurt. You might be content defending this town, but I don't have any roots holding me in one place."

"Alright," Chase chuckled "Be safe out there, and whenever you're in trouble, just yelp for help!"

Blight grinned before getting ready to take his leave.

"Wait," Chase said. "One more thing..."

Blight stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the German Shepherd.

"Don't ever say that no tears will be shed in your funeral," Chase said. "You do have friends."

"Perhaps I do, Chase," Blight grinned. "Perhaps I do."

On that note, the wolf left Adventure Bay as quickly as he had come. Venturing forth into the unknown.

**And that concludes the story 'Digital'. Thank you so much for bearing with this story until the end. I know that my writing skills are sub-par when compared to the other authors on this site and sticking with this story until the end means a lot to me.**

**If you have anything to say about my story or my writing skill, please leave a review. It'll help a lot more than you'd think.**

**If you're interested about the recordings Chase received from Blight, stick around. I'll be writing a prequel to Blight's story in the (hopefully) near future.**

**Once again, thanks for reading my fanfic and I hope that you all have an amazing 2020.**


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